Campaigning for the Presidency, 1960–1972

Coinciding with the 2016 presidential election, the New-York Historical Society will showcase 150 objects from the collection of Jordan M. Wright (1958–2008), considered one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections of historical and political campaign memorabilia. 

Items on view will include bold posters, paper dresses, foreign language ads, board games, t-shirts, paper and vinyl stickers, lapel pins, buttons, and other ephemera that span in tone from idealistic, to humorous, to scathingly critical. Featured objects from the presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy v. Richard Nixon (1960), Lyndon B. Johnson v. Barry Goldwater (1964), Robert F. Kennedy’s nomination race (1968), Richard Nixon v. Hubert Humphrey v. George Wallace (1968), and Richard Nixon v. George McGovern (1972) follow the change in tone and aesthetics of 1960s material culture of elections and reflect contemporary developments in campaign strategy.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Whether you go or not, Campaigning for President - Political Memorabilia From the Nation's Finest Private Collection, the catalog of the Wright collection, tells the colorful story of how presidents (and their losing rivals) have wooed voters since America was founded. Full of entertaining stories about the elections and the memorabilia, this book provides wonderful insight into America's most important achievement—our democratic system.