Richard Neuberger Poster

In the months following the post we did highlighting the campaign items of Richard Neuberger a new item we had not documented before came up in our searches. 

 

 

 

This 21.5x 13.5 heavy card stock poster was issued in 1954 by the Neuberger for Senate campaign.  This is the first time I have ever seen this poster outside of photos of campaign offices from the '54 campaign. 

Vintage Wyden Lawn Sign

I normally try to avoid lawn signs. They are bulky, many don't display well, and they take up a lot of limited storage space. Still, on occasion, someone will mention to me 'hey Carl, I've got this old sign do you want it?' and I will usually say yes just to see the sign.

Most of us know lawn signs as either these hard rigid plastic things that just have the name of the candidate on them. Or they are disposable plastic bag signs that you can toss in the recycle after the campaign. Lawn signs use to be a big deal. They were made locally out wood, particle wood or other tough materials. Often, they were hand painted. When a friend asked me if I wanted an old Ron Wyden lawn sign, I wasn't sure what I was getting. I was glad I said YES!

Oregon JFK Items

Let's take a look at some Oregon 1960 JFK related items! These items mostly come from the collection of John Gearhart, John Silvertooth, and Carl Fisher. Many of these items were not featured in the Oregon Historical Society High Hopes exhibit.

First some JFK Oregon pins. There are at least three known pins. Two show up fairly frequently online and in collections of JFK and Oregon items. These two pins were featured in the High Hopes exhibit.

The third Blue-White-Black Kennedy shows up rarely. This is the only one I have ever seen.

Here is a great Kennedy newspaper sent during the 1960 Oregon Primary. I had been trying to purchase one for most of this year, and finally was able to get one.

Hart for America Oregon Poster

Advert for Marion Co. Hart Rally

As a trained political junkie (i.e a holder of a political science degree) I am constantly fascinated by the campaigns that have come and gone. One of the campaigns to set up in Oregon in the past 30 years is the 1984 Gary Hart campaign, which by the way it has been exactly 30 years since the Hart campaign came to Oregon.

Hart was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale. If you are partial to the insurgent/establishment breakdowns of political campaigns then this would be of a similar contest to the Clinton-Obama race of 2008, for those not familiar with the dynamic of the 84 Democratic primaries.

Political organizations depend on people and candidates go where they have people. In the spring of 1984 a group of Marion County, Oregon organizers got Gary Hart to appear for a rally at the courthouse in downtown Salem as apart of his swing through the state. Here is a photo from the rally.

I'm guessing that Senator Hart is just behind the big flock of hair in the photo. This photo was given to me by my friend Liz. She was one of the many dedicated organizers who ran the Marion County for Hart organization.

Epic Willkie McNary Poster

One of the great aspects of being members of the American Political Item Collectors  is that we get to see items from other collectors around the country. A few months ago this 1940 Willkie-McNary poster was being shared with members on the facebook group.