Button collecting
Button collecting may refer to the collecting of various types of buttons. This article refers to the collecting of clothing buttons.
Button collecting varies widely. In its most informal manifestation, a button collection may simply be the household button container, where buttons are stored for future use on clothing or for crafts. At the other end of the spectrum is the competitive collector, mainly found in the United States. In between these two extremes exist casual button collectors, who accumulate buttons for sheer enjoyment and relaxation, as well as for their functional value.
Buttons in museums and galleries
[edit]Some museums and art galleries hold culturally, historically, politically, and/or artistically significant buttons in their collections. The Victoria & Albert Museum has many buttons, particularly in its jewellery collection, as does the Smithsonian Institution[1][2][3][4].
Hammond Turner & Sons, a button-making company in Birmingham, hosts an online museum with an image gallery and historical button-related articles, including an 1852 article on button-making by Charles Dickens. In the USA, large button collections open to the public include The Waterbury Button Museum of Waterbury, Connecticut, the Keep Homestead Museum of Monson, Massachusetts (which also hosts an extensive online button archive) and The Warthur Museum in Dover, Ohio.
Button collecting societies
[edit]Button collecting clubs and societies can add a social aspect to button collecting and provide a forum where novices can meet and learn from experienced collectors. The relatively small number of collectors - especially outside urban areas - means that a club may be difficult to set up and sustain. Access to the internet can at least partially solve this problem, as the association of collectors online is not limited by geographical distance.
North American Button Groups
[edit]- American Buttonists Society
- Organized in 1901 by a small group of men who enjoyed digging up artifacts including buttons, bullets, buckles, etc, at campsites. The New York Historical Society directed the diggings, and also claimed the majority and best examples of their findings. A very small number of the artifacts found by the Buttonists are held in the Luis F. Emilio collection at the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts.[5]
- National Button Society (USA)
- The world's largest and longest-running formal button collecting society is the USA's National Button Society, established in 1938. According to its website, the NBS has more than 3,000 members on four continents, with local clubs in 39 of the 50 US states. The NBS's objectives are:
- the promotion of educational research and exhibitions, the publishing and dissemination of information about buttons, and the preservation of the aesthetic and historical significance of buttons for future generations.[6]
- The Society and its associated state clubs regularly hold button conventions and shows which are similar in concept to agricultural shows, in which collectors submit trays of particular button types which must be arranged and mounted according to certain rules. Trays are given awards according to the judgement of a panel.
- The NBS has its own system of button measurement (differing from the European ligne system) and an extremely comprehensive and detailed system of nomenclature[7][8][9] and categorization[10] according to materials[11][12], designs and styles of construction.
- US state and regional NBS-affiliated button societies:
- The NBS-affiliated online button club, Buttonbytes, has an international membership of over one thousand, and a website including a dictionary of button collecting terms.
- Canadian groups
- The Trillium Button Club of Southwestern Ontario is the oldest Canadian Button Club, established in 1958.
- The Pioneer Button Club, an Ontario-based button collecting group, formed in 1960.
- Ottawa Valley Button Club
- Northeast Regional Button Association (NERBA)
- The Northeast Regional Button Association[13], consisting of the New England States, New York and Canada, was established in 1985.
Button societies in the European Union
[edit]- The UK: The British Button Society, established in 1976, has branches in Birmingham, Bristol, London, Derbyshire/Manchester (North-West Group), Solent and Scotland.
- Holland: Knopenverzamelaars
- France: FIBULE
- Switzerland: Knopfclub
References
[edit]- ^ American Indian Buttons made with ivory, whalebone and ink at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
- ^ Domestic button collection, circa 1935, from Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
- ^ USPS uniform buttons, at 'Arago', the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
- ^ Silver buttons held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery
- ^ Luscomb, Sally C. (2003). The Collector's Encyclopedia of Buttons, p.5. Atglen, PA: Schiffer. p. 242. ISBN 0764318152.
- ^ Hanson, Deborah (2007). "National Button Society". USA National Button Society website. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
- ^ NBS (2007). "NBS Glossary of general terms". National Button Society. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
- ^ Weinberg, Mary (2009-10-10). "Button Terms, part 1". Bead & button magazine. Kalmbach. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
- ^ Weinberg, Mary (2009-11-29). "Button Terms, part 2". Bead & button magazine. Kalmbach. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
- ^ "NBS 2009/10 Classification & glossary". National Button Society Classification for 2009-2010 Competition. National Button Society. 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
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- ^ "Button Society Websites & Contacts". National Button Society. 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
Bibliography
[edit]- Luscomb, Sally C. (2003). The Collector's Encyclopedia of Buttons. Atglen, PA: Schiffer. p. 242. ISBN 0764318152.
- Osborne, Peggy A. (1997). Button, button : identification and price guide. Atglen, PA: Schiffer. p. 167. ISBN 0764300822.
- Peacock, Primrose (1978). Discovering old buttons. Discovering series ; no. 213. Rosemary Godsell (illus.). Aylesbury, UK: Shire Publications. p. 76. ISBN 0852634455.
- Wisniewski, Debra J. (1997). Antique & collectible buttons : identification & values. Charley Lynch. Paducah, KY: Collector Books. p. 168. ISBN 0891457119.