Natural Resources
The natural resources collections offer centuries of evidence about how Americans have used the bounty of the American continent and coastal waters. Artifacts related to flood control, dam construction, and irrigation illustrate the nation's attempts to manage the natural world. Oil-drilling, iron-mining, and steel-making artifacts show the connection between natural resources and industrial strength.
Forestry is represented by saws, axes, a smokejumper's suit, and many other objects. Hooks, nets, and other gear from New England fisheries of the late 1800s are among the fishing artifacts, as well as more recent acquisitions from the Pacific Northwest and Chesapeake Bay. Whaling artifacts include harpoons, lances, scrimshaw etchings in whalebone, and several paintings of a whaler's work at sea. The modern environmental movement has contributed buttons and other protest artifacts on issues from scenic rivers to biodiversity.
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Environmental Button
- Description
- The Healthy Harvest Society is a clearinghouse for information about organizations, groups, and individuals in the fields of sustainable agriculture and horticulture. It publishes a yearly directory and a geographical index of resources. The Society produced this button for the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, held in 1990.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990
- maker
- Adspecs Inc.
- ID Number
- 1992.3134.043
- catalog number
- 1992.3134.043
- nonaccession number
- 1992.3134
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- This button depicts the ecology symbol, a small letter “e” inside the larger letter “O,” the letters standing for “environment” and “organism.” Cartoonist Ron Cobb invented the symbol in 1969. The ecology symbol appeared in a green U.S. flag for the first time in the April 21, 1970 issue of Look magazine.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Racomex Products
- ID Number
- 1993.3186.01
- catalog number
- 1993.3186.01
- nonaccession number
- 1993.3186
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- David Powell, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, designed this button for the Philadelphia Earth Week Committee on the occasion of the first Earth Day in 1970. The button was made by Horn Badge Co. of Glenside, Pennsylvania.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1970
- maker
- Edward Horn Co.
- ID Number
- 1993.3186.05
- catalog number
- 1993.3186.05
- nonaccession number
- 1993.3186
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- The peace sign was created in 1958 as part of the British nuclear disarmament movement. The image combines the letters “N” (nuclear) and “D” (disarmament) from the semaphore (flag signaling) alphabet. During the 1960s and 1970s the sign became a ubiquitous symbol in the United States for a multitude of causes, including the peace and civil rights movements. On this button, the symbol has been made into a tree, evoking concern and care for the environment.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1970
- maker
- Edward Horn Co.
- ID Number
- 1993.3186.07
- nonaccession number
- 1993.3186
- catalog number
- 1993.3186.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. The occasion was first conceived by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, as a national day of observance for environmental problems. Millions of people participated in events across the country, while thousands of schools held special educational sessions, all dealing with environmental concerns. Earth Day has since become an annual event, celebrated worldwide.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1970
- maker
- Edward Horn Co.
- ID Number
- 1993.3186.08
- nonaccession number
- 1993.3186
- catalog number
- 1993.3186.08
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. The occasion was first conceived by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, as a national day of observance for environmental problems. Millions of people participated in events across the country, while thousands of schools held special educational sessions, all dealing with environmental concerns. Earth Day has since become an annual event, celebrated worldwide.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1970
- maker
- Edward Horn Co.
- ID Number
- 1993.3186.04
- catalog number
- 1993.3186.04
- nonaccession number
- 1993.3186
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. The occasion was first conceived by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, as a national day of observance for environmental problems. Millions of people participated in events across the country, while thousands of schools held special educational sessions, all dealing with environmental concerns. Earth Day has since become an annual event, celebrated worldwide.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1993.3186.12
- nonaccession number
- 1993.3186
- catalog number
- 1993.3186.12
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- The Sierra Club, an American environmental organization headquartered in San Francisco, developed a reputation in the 1960s as an aggressive defender of wild lands. Its activist approach has continued, and its areas of concern have expanded. The organization was founded in 1892 by John Muir, a Scottish American naturalist and essayist.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- early 1990s
- ID Number
- 1999.0248.68
- catalog number
- 1999.0248.68
- accession number
- 1999.0248
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- This button was produced for a campaign against the Walt Disney Company, which planned to build a “history theme park” in rural Virginia in the 1990s. The park was opposed because of concerns about its environmental impact on the area.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1999.0248.79
- catalog number
- 1999.0248.79
- accession number
- 1999.0248
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- The slogan on this button refers to a campaign by the environmental group the Sierra Club to promote and preserve the wilderness areas of Utah. It dates from the early 1990s. Wilderness protection was a touchstone issue among some environmental groups, and is still relevant despite the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- early 1990s
- ID Number
- 1999.0248.26
- catalog number
- 1999.0248.26
- accession number
- 1999.0248
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- ZPG refers to Zero Population Growth, an organization founded in the late 1960s to advocate the limitation of family size and to educate citizens about the perils of over-population.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1994.0165.06
- catalog number
- 1994.0165.06
- accession number
- 1994.0165
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- This button was likely produced in reaction to an oil embargo that occurred in 1973-1974. The embargo caused gas shortages, leading to higher prices and gas rationing, and resulted in long lines at the gas pumps. This button suggests one possible response to the embargo.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- maker
- Badge-A-Minit
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0013
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0013
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- This button was used to encourage students at Kent State University in Ohio to ride the campus bus in order to minimize auto pollution.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0036
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0036
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- The group "Bike for a Better City" encouraged New York commuters and lawmakers to view bicycling as a means for everyday transportation. The organization, founded in 1970 by Barry Fishman and Harriet Green, called for the establishment of special bike lanes to make city biking safer.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Fishman, Barry
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0051
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0051
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- While many of the buttons in our collections were produced by environmental organizations, the causes they espouse are often advocated by government agencies. This button is a good example. It was made in Canada by the Alberta Energy and Natural Resources.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0362
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0362
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- This button produced by the California Department of Water and Power advocates prudent energy usage.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0367
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0367
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- Several types of renewable energy sources are available as alternatives to non-renewable carbon based energy sources. The button featured here advocates the use of wind power to generate electricity.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0369
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0369
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- Button with a light blue background with dark blue printing. Features the image of a cresting wave and the phrase "STOP OCEAN DUMPING". Rim of the button reads: Donnelly/Colt Buttons
- The world’s oceans have been used by industry and governments for many years as a convenient sink for dumping waste products, including radioactive materials and other hazardous substances. Efforts to curb that practice intensified in the 1970s when international conventions attempted to tightly control or ban it outright.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- maker
- Donnelly/Colt
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.1118
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.1118
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- Growing food organically is seen as “earth friendly” as it eschews the use of pesticides and antibiotics and employs water conserving agricultural methods.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Badge-A-Minit
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.1133
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.1133
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Environmental Button
- Description
- Food processing companies use ionizing radiation to kill bacteria, molds, viruses, and insects in order to prevent spoilage and stop the proliferation of disease-causing organisms. Even though food irradiation was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is currently permitted in over forty countries, it is still opposed by many people who view it as “unnatural.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Donnelly/Colt
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.1137
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.1137
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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