Government, Politics, and Reform - Overview
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln are all represented in the Museum's collections—by a surveying compass, a lap desk, and a top hat, among other artifacts. But the roughly 100,000 objects in this collection reach beyond the possessions of statesmen to touch the broader political life of the nation—in election campaigns, the women's suffrage movement, labor activity, civil rights, and many other areas. Campaign objects make up much of the collection, including posters, novelties, ballots, voting machines, and many others. A second group includes general political history artifacts, such as first ladies' clothing and accessories, diplomatic materials, ceremonial objects, national symbols, and paintings and sculptures of political figures. The third main area focuses on artifacts related to political reform movements, from labor unions to antiwar groups.
"Government, Politics, and Reform - Overview" showing 2138 items.
Page 1 of 214
World War II Poster
- Description
- This image, said to be the most popular poster design of World War II, appeared as a billboard in 1941. Carl Paulson created the design under the direction of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc., for a U.S. Treasury Department campaign promoting the widespread public ownership of defense bonds and stamps. To demonstrate the power of advertising while selling bonds, the billboard industry displayed this image of the American flag at more than 30,000 locations in some 18,000 cities and towns across the country in March and April 1942. The Treasury brought back the billboard for campaigns in July 1942 and 1943. To meet public demand for copies of the billboard, the Government Printing Office printed 4 million small color reproductions.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1942
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- designer
- Paulson, Carl
- ID Number
- PL*164237.02
- accession number
- 164237
- catalog number
- 164237.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Portrait of John Hancock
- Description
- John Hancock (1737–1793), Boston merchant and politician, is famous for his prominent signature on the Declaration of Independence. He presided over the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia between 1775–1777, and later served as governor of Massachusetts.
- Hancock's portrait was painted by Boston artist John Singleton Copley early in the 1770s. The painting, now in the Massachusetts Historical Society, was copied by several printmakers. Joseph Hiller Senior's mezzotint survives in two versions. The Museum's copy of this print is one of the earlier state with just Hancock's name. Another version with the addition of his title, "President of the Continental Congress," and the artist's name, is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
- Joseph Hiller Sr. worked as a silversmith in the 1770s. Like Paul Revere, another Boston silversmith in this era, Hiller also made engravings. Hiller may have worked directly from Copley's portrait or copied another print. Several printed portraits of Hancock made before 1800 offer evidence of popular interest in images of political figures and the active market for prints.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1775
- depicted
- Hancock, John
- original artist
- Copley, John Singleton
- engraver
- Hiller, Joseph
- ID Number
- GA*24021
- catalog number
- 24021
- accession number
- 219034
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Inkwell given to John Hay
- Description
- Crystal and silver inkwell inscribed: “This inkstand was used by Abraham Lincoln during his presidency. John Hay.”
- The president’s private secretaries, John Hay and John George Nicolay, began to work for Lincoln in Springfield during the presidential campaign. They remained trusted aides and confidants throughout his presidency. Nicolay and Hay moved into the White House with the Lincoln family. Both men became devoted admirers and fondly referred to the president as “the Tycoon.”
- Gift of Mrs. John Hay, 1912
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated person
- Lincoln, Abraham
- ID Number
- PL*013125
- catalog number
- 13125
- accession number
- 54183
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Benjamin Franklin's Walking Stick
- Description
- A French admirer presented this gold-capped walking stick to Benjamin Franklin while he was serving as ambassador to France. Franklin later bequeathed the cane to his friend and fellow revolutionary George Washington.
- A celebrated writer, inventor, scientist, and advocate for U.S. independence, Franklin rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most famous Americans of the 18th century. Through advice and example, Franklin helped define the American ideal of self-improvement through virtue and hard work.
- Date made
- 1783
- owner
- Washington, George
- user
- Franklin, Benjamin
- ID Number
- PL*032011
- catalog number
- 032011
- accession number
- 68016
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lincoln Funeral Train Flag
- Description
- One of two flags that flew from the locomotive of the Lincoln funeral train on the route between Albany and Utica, New York
- On April 19, 1865, an estimated 25 million Americans attended memorial services for Abraham Lincoln in Washington and around the country. Lincoln’s body lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda and then traveled to Springfield on a funeral train that retraced his route to Washington in 1861.
- Newspapers publicized the train’s schedule so that citizens could pay their last respects as it passed. In ten cities, Lincoln’s casket was removed from the train for elaborate memorial services and public viewings. On May 3, 1865, the train reached its final destination. The following day Lincoln’s body was placed in its tomb.
- Gift of Walter McCulloch, 1926
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated person
- Lincoln, Abraham
- ID Number
- PL*035351a
- catalog number
- 35351a
- accession number
- 90668
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Inkwell given to Elizabeth Keckly
- Description
- Elizabeth Keckly asked Mary Lincoln for keepsakes from the president and received several items, including this inkwell. In 1874 she presented it to Rev. George Van Deurs, her minister at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington.
- Elizabeth Keckly (often spelled Keckley) was born into slavery in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. An accomplished dressmaker, she earned enough money to buy her freedom and her son’s. In 1861 Keckly was living in Washington, D.C., when she was introduced to Mary Lincoln.
- Keckly became Mary’s principal dressmaker, a trusted confidant, and an intimate friend. It was a close, complicated, unequal relationship—the women were drawn together by genuine affection and divided by class and race.
- Gift of Capt. George Van Deurs, USN, grandson of Rev. George Van Deurs, 1949
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated person
- Lincoln, Abraham
- Keckley, Elizabeth
- associated institution
- White House, The
- ID Number
- PL*046663
- catalog number
- 46663
- accession number
- 181810
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
White House Coffee Cup
- Description
- Richmond had fallen. Lee had surrendered. The war was finally coming to an end. It was time to celebrate the victory, unify the American people, and rebuild the nation. On the evening of Good Friday, April 14, Lincoln decided to spend a relaxing evening at the Ford’s Theatre.
- After dressing for the evening, a White House servant observed the president leaving behind this cup on a windowsill just before departing. The servant preserved it as a relic of that tragic night. Years later Capt. D. W. Taylor presented this cup to Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln’s eldest son, who maintained it as a family heirloom.
- Gift of Lincoln Isham, great-grandson of Abraham Lincoln, 1958
- associated person
- Lincoln, Abraham
- associated institution
- White House, The
- ID Number
- PL*219098.09
- catalog number
- 219098.09
- accession number
- 219098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lady's Compact
- Description
- This oval lady's compact is made in the shape of a telephone dial. On the dial appears "I LIKE IKE," with a map of the United States in the center. The point is that anywhere you might dial over the country, everybody likes Ike!
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1952
- associated person
- Eisenhower, Dwight D.
- ID Number
- PL*227739.1952.X040
- catalog number
- 227739.1952.X040
- accession number
- 227739
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Laura Keene's Bloodstained Cuff
- Description
- On the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln decided to spend a relaxing evening at the theater. The Lincolns and their two guests, Clara Harris and Maj. Henry Rathbone, arrived late to Ford’s Theatre for a production of Our American Cousin. As the president entered the theater, the crowd wildly cheered and the orchestra played “Hail to the Chief.” Lincoln set his silk hat on the floor, and the actors resumed where they had left off.
- At about 10:15 p.m., John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box, pointed a derringer pistol at the back of the president’s head and fired. Booth then pulled out a knife, slashed Rathbone, and jumped onto the stage, declaring “Sic semper tyrannis”—“Thus always to tyrants,” the Virginia state motto. Despite breaking his leg as he hit the stage, Booth escaped backstage and onto a waiting horse.
- The play’s leading actress, Laura Keene, rushed with water to the president’s box. As she cradled the president’s head, drops of his blood stained her cuff. She gave the cuff to her niece who preserved it throughout her life.
- Bequest of Virginia Adler Thompson, niece of Laura Keene, 1962
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated person
- Keene, Laura
- Lincoln, Abraham
- ID Number
- PL*242707.01
- catalog number
- 242707.01
- accession number
- 242707
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pekin County Courthouse Desk
- Description
- Abraham Lincoln learned the law by borrowing books and training informally with practicing lawyers. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1836 and practiced law there for 25 years. Most of his work involved settling debts, contracts, business disputes, divorces, and some criminal cases. An occasional case would take him to a federal court or the Illinois Supreme Court. While his biggest single client was the Illinois Central Railroad, he was just as likely to oppose railroads in the courtroom as represent them.
- Many of Lincoln’s cases were in central Illinois’ Fourteenth Circuit—known as the “mud circuit” for its poor roads. Stopping at county seats, the circuit judge and a traveling band of lawyers would quickly handle pending cases and disputes and then move on to the next town. Lincoln loved the circuit, the camaraderie, and the courtroom sparring.
- This wooden desk is from the courthouse in Pekin, Illinois. Lincoln and his fellow circuit lawyers shared the work space as they prepared their cases. Most of the desk is not original—only the top rail survives from Lincoln’s time.
- Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois purchased this desk for 10 dollars. As Republican minority leader, Dirksen played a crucial role in helping to write and pass civil rights legislation of the 1960s. It is likely he did some of this work on the same desk once used by Abraham Lincoln. After the senator’s death, Mrs. Dirksen donated the desk to the Smithsonian in 1970. “It was his pride and joy. . . ,” she wrote. “When he was at home in Pekin, instead of Washington, he would take his work upstairs to his Lincoln desk every evening after supper, rather than working in his downstairs study.”
- Gift of Mrs. Everett M. Dirksen, 1970
- Location
- Currently not on view
- user
- Dirksen, Everett
- ID Number
- PL*290488.11
- accession number
- 290488
- catalog number
- 290488.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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