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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Pinback button from the Woodstock music festival held August 15-18, 1969. Dove and guitar illustration with the phrase “Peace & Music.” Part of the Nettie Feinberg Collection.
Title Nettie Feinberg Collection
Collection Number SC 390
OCLC Number 1204209722
Creator Various
Provenance Donated in spring 2004 by Nettie Feinberg. She decided to donate her collection at the suggestion of her son Richard Feinberg, Librarian Emeritus, Stony Brook University.
Extent,Scope, and Content Note This collection consists of 3 cubic ft. comprising 82 political-themed buttons produced ca. 1950 to 2008. The items were collected by Nettie Feinberg (1916-2012) between between ca. 1950s to 2000; many were acquired through her late husband Samuel Feinberg’s job as a columnist for the fashion trade paper Women’s Wear Daily. The “The Naturals Are In” button is in reference to using cotton and other natural fibers for clothing. The “Hess’s Allentown, PA” button was from the large flower show at Hess’s Department Store in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Nettie Feinberg was involved with political campaigns and movements. She became interested in politics after witnessing the effects of the Great Depression, World War I and World War II. Many of the buttons were purchased by Feinberg as fundraisers to show support for political candidates before an election. Several of the buttons have historical significance. The “I am a Civil Rights Marcher August 28, 1963 Washington, D.C.” button was attained from Feinberg’s son, Lawrence, at the civil rights march where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. There are several buttons relating to the Vietnam War. The “Moratorium” and “National Strike For Peace October 15, 1970” buttons were both obtained at major rallies protesting the Vietnam War. The “Political Cartoon” button is a political cartoon drawn by Richard Levine depicting the General of the Vietnam Air Force and Dean Rusk during the Vietnam War.
“A pin-back button or pinback button, pin button, button badge, or simply pin-back or badge, is a button or badge that can be temporarily fastened to the surface of a garment using a safety pin, or a pin formed from wire, a clutch or other mechanism. This fastening mechanism is anchored to the back side of a button-shaped metal disk, either flat or concave, which leaves an area on the front of the button to carry an image or printed message. The word is commonly associated with a campaign button used in the United States and abroad during a political campaign. The first design for a pin-back button in the United States was patented in 1896, and contemporary buttons have many of the same design features. Political buttons have been used in the United States since the first presidential inauguration in 1789, when George Washington’s supporters wore buttons imprinted with a slogan.” (Source: Wikipedia, entry for “pin-back button”)
Arrangement and Processing Note Processing and finding aid completed by Special Collections in December 2005. Finding aid revised and updated by Kristen J. Nyitray in May 2019.
Organization: filed alphabetically by title (if applicable), then by symbol.
Language English
Restrictions on Access The collection is open to researchers without restriction.
Rights and Permissions Stony Brook University Libraries’ consent to access as the physical owner of the collection does not address copyright issues that may affect publication rights. It is the sole responsibility of the user of Special Collections and University Archives materials to investigate the copyright status of any given work and to seek and obtain permission where needed prior to publication.
Citation [Item], [Box], Nettie Feinberg Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Stony Brook University Libraries.
Historical Note Nettie Feinberg was born in Manhattan, New York in 1916. She grew up in Manhattan and received her Bachelors Degree in Advertising with a Minor in History and French from New York University. She met her husband Samuel Feinberg while interviewing for a position at a newspaper. They were married on February 23, 1939. Mr. and Mrs. Feinberg had three children: Lawrence, Richard, and Alice. The family moved to Flushing, Queens, New York and while her children attended school, Mrs. Feinberg received her Masters of Education from Queens College and went on to teach in an elementary school in South Jamaica, Queens. She continued her career as an educator, becoming a reading teacher in underprivileged schools in Queens and Brooklyn. After Mrs. Feinberg’s children were grown, she moved back to Manhattan with her husband and accepted a job teaching at a high school for expectant mothers. She retired from teaching in 1983 at the age of sixty-seven. Mrs. Feinberg lived in Manhattan until 2002, when her husband passed away. She moved to South Setauket and lived there until her death in August 2012.
Subjects Buttons. Pin-back buttons. Campaign buttons — United States. Political collectibles. Politics and culture. United States — Politics and government — 20th century.
INVENTORY
Box 1
Tray 1 Abortion: A Personal Decision Adlai Bella for Mayor Because New Yorkers Deserve the Best New York City Needs Bella Abzug for Mayor Boycott Non-UFW Grapes Boycott Non-Union Lettuce Bring All the Troops Home Now Demonstrate October 31 Bring Our Men Home From Viet-Nam Now CEC NYC ‘74 Clinton/Gore Rapid Response Team Clinton Team Congressional Action Now Contributor District 12 Has Pride Prevention and Relation in Drug Education Don’t Breathe Near Me- We’re Running Out of Oxygen
Tray 2 DSEPPS Division of Special Education and Pupil Personnel Services Dukakis/Bentsen EL AL 20 Environment! ERA All People Are Created Equal Eugene Express Yourself Vote Feed the Cities Not the Pentagon Fonz, The 4 Day Week Get Involved Give Earth a Chance Great Match Ruffian, The Have a Happy Day Hillary for U.S Senate
Tray 3 Hillary for U.S Senate If You Are Not Part of the Solution You Are Part of the Problem I’m Crazy About the Big Apple It’s In The Bag Keep Abortion Safe and Legal LBJ Life on Earth Stop Spending on Death Make Money Unitote at the Point of Sale Make Peace with Mature McCarthy McGovern McGovern McGovern McGovern ‘72 I Belong McGovern Million Member Club How About You?
Box 2
Tray 1 Michelangelo at the Morgan Moratorium National Strike For Peace October 15, 1970 Naturals Are In, The New Port Peace and Music Pentagon is Rising October 21, The People Carter and Mondale Press Of Course Of Course Replacing Regan with Bush is like an operation for Hemorrhoids Save the Tilden Merry Go Round Say Hello for a Better New York Season Ticket Collection Slapstick Vonnegut Lonesome No More
Tray 2 Spark Take G.M UFT United Nations Decade for Women 1976-1986 War is not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things We Love Animals and Things We Want What You Want WWD
Tray 3 American Red Cross symbol Bird in cage Clothing Hanger inside a red circle with a line through it Donkey Flag in circle Fist Green button with blue circle with a line through it Leaf Safety Buttons With Red, White, and Blue Beads Shoe
Box 3 Hillary for President (2 buttons) “Impeach Cheney First” Kerry Edwards: A Stronger America Obama ’08 Obama and Biden Obama Biden “The Emperor Has No Brains”
Box 4 Hess’s Allentown, PA I am a Civil Rights Marcher August 28, 1963 Washington, D.C. Political Cartoon
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