Political Items in Prineville

If you like to go exploring and have the time to visit Prineville, Oregon, you should go check it out. I recently visited the A.R. Bowman Museum (Crook County Historical Society). It is housed in two floors of an old bank in downtown Prineville, a few blocks from the county courthouse. Like most county centric museums there are lots of items from the 'early days' of the town and their pioneer roots (a very common theme in Oregon). There were photos of the old baseball teams, teachers, ranch hands, prominient buisnesspersons and what-have you. There was even, for fans of political items, some of those tucked away in this museum that you had to really look to find.

Here are the items I noticed.

1) William McKinely bootjack.

Most of us are probably thinking....what is a bootjack??  It is a device invented to help remove your boots. This bootjack was used in William McKinely's successful 1896 campaign for President according to the caption provided with it.

Oregon McKinley Ribbon: Gold Standard & Corvallis Ladies Club

In response to the Bryan 1897 ribbon, who was a free silver man, I have found this McKinley Our Standard care of Old Politicals Auction # 8 in 2010. It was being offered at $595.00, but didn't attract any bids.

5" Silk Ribbon

A fantastic ribbon. The gold really stands out. 1896 saw the gold standard supporters wage ideological war with the free silver advocates. Here is a McKinley Hobart jugate ribbon from the collection of Oregon APIC member John Silvertooth. It is from the Ladies Club in Corvallis, Oregon.

1897 William Jennings Bryan Oregon Ribbon!

Talk about a blast from the past. This ribbon comes from the collection of APIC member Tom Berg. He shared it with us on the APIC Facebook page.

From the Berg Collection