East Coast collectors of political buttons, badges, ribbons and related ephemera will meet in Titusville, N.J., on Saturday, April 13, to sell, trade, and display memorabilia from elections throughout the centuries. This 16th annual gathering will be held at the Titusville United Methodist Church from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Attendees from multiple states may expect to see a wide variety of political items, ranging from 2020 presidential-campaign buttons promoting Donald Trump, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders to items from former presidents such as Teddy R. and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.
The gathering will be hosted by the local chapter of the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) national nonprofit hobbyist association, dedicated to preserving political history.
“We invite the young and old alike to learn more about collecting buttons, posters and other items from campaigns throughout American history,” says Tony Lee, a Titusville resident, political historian and president of APIC’s Big Apple Chapter. “Most political items don’t survive the elections in which they were issued, so to see an ‘I Like Ike’ apron or a Ronald Reagan cowboy hat or a clothing button worn at George Washington’s inauguration and inscribed with ‘Long Live the President’ is a great experience for students of political history at any age.”
The historic Titusville United Methodist Church is located at 7 Church Road, at the corner of River Road (Route 29) and Church Road in Titusville, N.J., due south of Lambertville, and due north of the state capital, Trenton. The button show will be held in the church’s Education Building. Ample free parking is available.
Admission to the event will be $3 for each adult. Any child 12 years or younger will enter free of charge. To encourage a lifelong love of political history and collecting, each child will receive assorted buttons, free of charge, to start his or her own personal collection. Free appraisals will be offered for all political items brought in by members of the public, and members of the public also may bring items for the group’s auction, with a commission rate of 10 percent of the overall sale. Baked goods and other items, as well as hot coffee and tea, will be available (with food proceeds benefiting the church and its ministries).
For more information, contact Tony Lee at 609-310-0817 or tonylee08560@gmail.com.