Political Memorabilia from the Collection of Shawn Gray an Exhibit Catalog

The St. Lawrence County Historical Association OUARTERLY Volume XLIII- Number I - Winter 1998 The St. Lawrence County Historical Association at the Silas Wright Museum elect its officers and trustees. President: Richard Foste Chris Angus, Canton Patricia Carson, Canton i Dennis Eickhoff, Colton : Shawn Gray, Massena 4 E. Jane Layo, Waddington Jane Subramanian, potsdam Joanne Swift, Potsdam i Sue Longshore Peter Van de Water, canton Robert Wells, Canton Cay Zabriskie, Ogdensbur Our Mission ation is a not-for-profit membership organization and d benefit of the citizens of St. Lawrence County and others interested in the County's history and traditions. The ~sskationcollects and preserves archival material and artifacts pertinent to the County's history. In cooperation and collabbation with other local organizations, the Association promotes an understanding of and appreciation for the County's ncqistory through publications, exhibits, and programs. The St. Lawrence County Historical Association operates within~us~ds&stablisb&~ricanAssociation of Museums. SLCHA Membership Membership in the St. Lawrence County Historical Association is open to all interested parties. Annual membership dues are: Individual, $25; SeniorIStudent, $20; Family, $35; Contributor, $50; Supporter, $100; Patron, $250; Businesses, $50 to $1,000. Members receive the SLCHA Quarterly, the Historical Association's bi-monthly newsletter, and various discounts on publications, programs and events. St. Lawrence County Historical Association at the Silas Wright Museum P. 0.Box 8,3 East Main Street Canton, New York 13617 (315) 386-8133 P'ublished sin The SLCHA &'uarterly is endowed The St. Lawrence County Historical Association in memory of Albert Prie :st Newell and Ella T+aierrnan,_.__--- Newell. Publication of The SLCl 5% Qwr- terljv is also m lade possit~le in part OUARTERLY wittI public f~lnds from the New . "&. rn .:. ..L- *A- YO~Karare ~ounc~lon I Volume XLIII - Number 1 - Winter 1998 ISSN: 0558-1931 ling Edito J. Rebec ca Thompsul~ Tren~t Trulock . :tion Editoc SusaI Advis ri: Chris Angus,, Lantnn CONTENTS Arthur Johnson, Pc 3tsdam Herb Judd, Piemepont From the Editors Mary Ruth Judd, Pic errepont J - jeler, Ha nnawa Around the County: Political Memorabilia Lopyngnr w IYYO civ the from the Collection of Shawn Gray -- An Exhibit st County Hristorical Catalog 3 As All rights reserved. Susanne Longshore Except ror onex excerpts, no pan or this publicahon may be copied or In Memoriam Elwood Simons reproduced without the express -- written permissionofthe author and Trent Trulock the Historical Association. The St. Lawrence County Historical Association is not responsible for Conversations with Local Government Historians: the statements, interpretations, and o pi nions of contribute Terry Fischer, Town of Lisbon Historian 17 SLt 7HA Quariterly. The 3LLHA ulwnerly 1s puollsnea St. Lawrence County's Northern Light. Winter, Spring. Summer, and Fall -- each year by the St. Lawrence Albert P. Crary 23 County Historical Association for its members and friends J. Rebecca Thompson Ad ditional copies may tE obtainedI fro m the St. Lawrence C'ounty His- Cracker Box .. .. --.. #, m. toncal Assoaanon, r.u.Box a, Lan- Town and Village Historians Remember ton. NY 13617 at %4.00e:ach ($2.OC1 for members), for postage. Elwood Simons 26 Conmbuaom-. The SLCHA Quarterly welcomes contributions . To subnlit a manu- Issue Editor: script, or for further. ..ir ~fomation, please contact the edlfor through J. Rebecca Thompson the St. Lawrence County Histori- cal Association. Please address communications to: Managing . Cover Illustration: Ed itor, The SLCHA !Quarterly George Washington Memorial Pitchers P.( >. Box 8, Canton, NTY 13617. - Photo counuy of SLCHA Archivu From the Editors The preparation of our last volume, the ten year retrospective, provided opportunity to survey The Quarterly over its publication history. While each issue has provided gems of historical information about the county, its history, and its historical connections to the rest of the world, The Quarterly as an on-going publication has changed with time--in format, presentation, and to some degree in content. These changes reflect changes in the world in which we live--such as access to computers which has made it relatively easy to have illustrations and variations in type styles and size. The changes also reflect changes in the Historical Association itself and in the interests of its members. In this issue of The Quarterly we are showcasing some new ideas that we expect to be regular features in subsequent issues. Exhibits Our main article for this issue is an "exhibit catalog" developed from the research and materials that are part of a current exhibit at the Silas Wright House, the Association's museum. With this kind of feature we hope both to share exhibits with those who are unable to see them in person and to entice some of you to actually come and see the exhibit which is a much richer and more interesting presentation than any publication can portray. We expect to cover future exhibits in a similar manner in The Quarterly. Conversations with Local Government Historians As our executive director and county historian makes his way around the county, he often engages in interesting and informative conversations with our local government historians. These provide a way to both introduce our readers to key resource people for our county's history and to provide some interesting pieces of information about particular locations. Northern Lights While the primary focus of The Quarterly is on the people, events, and concerns of St. Lawrence County, there are many who got their start here, but moved on to make important contributions all over the world. "Northern Lights" will feature historical sketches of these individuals. Cracker Box The earliest issue of The Quarterly had a regular feature "The Cracker Barrel" which was one or two sentences about each local government historian. Taking off on that, our "Cracker Box" will feature notes and short pieces of interesting historical information we receive from local historians and others. We welcome submissions of feature articles that cover local history topics in depth. We work cooperatively with all authors to ensure that each article is given its best presentation for publication. Submissions should be sent to: The Quarterly, P.O. Box 8, Canton, NY 13617. J. Rebecca Thompson Trent Trulock 2 Sr. Lawrence County Hisroricd Association Quarterly Around The County: Political Memorabilia From The Collection Of Shawn Gray An Exhibit Catalog By Susanne Longshore Introduction During the twentieth century, paigning. Fewer campaign items Americans have created and the trend in presidential cam- are being produced each election cherished political memorabilia paigns has moved away from the as larger percentages of campaign since the first days of the nation participatory politics prevalent in budgets are spent on television under the presidency of George earlier decades. The develop- and other media. As people are Washington. The earliest presi- ment of new media in the form increasingly able to stay at home dential items were produced to of radio, television, and, most re- and view electionsfrom afar, cam- commemorate special political cently, the Internet have, to a paigning has become for many events such as inaugurations, and large extent, eclipsed the use of Americans simply a spectator to pay tribute to beloved presi- more traditional means of cam- sport. dents. Political campaign memorabilia, those items created and used expressly for influencing voters to choose one candidate over another in an election, were first produced for the 1824 presidential election. Throughout- the nineteenth century, as the number of eligible voters grew steadily, campaign efforts appealed to the masses of American citizens through pa- rades, rallies, newspapers, and a ? wide variety of utilitarian andnov- elty items. Among the most popu- 2 lar items used by political cam- ; paigns to gain and maintain public support for candidates in the nineteenth century were campaign g biographies, buttons, banners, tickets, tokens, toys, ribbons, A glimpse of the exhibit "Political Memorabilia - From the Collection of Shawn Gray''. medalets, clothing, bandannas, pitchers and dishware. St Lawrence County Hislorical Association Quarterly 3 On Collecting and the Collector Political campaign memorabilia collecting is a favorite activity for many individuals. For lots of political enthusiasts, collecting is a busi- ness. The emphasis is on the mon- g 2 etary value of pieces. Rare cam- 2 paign items are sought out and pur- 2 chased for the ultimate purpose of 2 reselling or trading the pieces for a 5 profit. Shawn Gray, the featured ? collector, however, has his own personal reasons for collecting campaign memorabilia. Shawn Gray - Collector and Exhibitor - on opening day at the St. Lawrence County Historical Association's Silas Wright The value which Shawn derives from his collection lies in the knowl- edge and understanding of the nation's history learned through How It All Got Started study of the candidates and issues. Shawn's self-proclaimed motto is I was probably ten or eleven and both of my brothers had collections. One "those who don't know history are collected coins and one collected stamps. So I said to my mother, "I want to condemned to repeat it." collect something". And she said to me, "Well, people are picking up presidential campaign buttons ... " And there was this little man who had an old junk shop down the street from Shawn Gray is a St. Lawrence where we lived and my mother used to buy things from him. Once he had this County legislator and a member of little box of buttons and that was the beginning. Thefirst one I saw was a Teddy the Massena Permanent Firefighters. Roosevelt jugate and his running mate Fairbanks and it had an eagle andflags At an early age he developed an and it was very colorful! Love atfirst sight! -- Shawn Gray interest in political memorabilia.

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