It all started in 2014 with a political button from Ross Perot’s failed 1992 presidential election bid.
Kent State University student Mason St. Clair’s grandfather had given it to his mom, who passed the button on to him and unknowingly set off a spark for collecting political memorabilia.
In the nine years since, St. Clair’s collection has grown to more than 8,000 pieces, which for the past few years he has regularly put on display in two glass cases on the first floor of the University Library, just before the elevators.
St. Clair said his collection fills his bedroom at his parent’s home in Niles, Ohio, and a spare room, too. He mostly collects memorabilia from presidential races and the civil rights movement.
Collecting came naturally to St. Clair – his parents and grandparents enjoy antiquing and regularly frequent antique stores, flea markets and yard sales, so it was not too surprising that he was bitten by the same bug.
“Anyone can be a collector,” St. Clair said, noting that many pieces of political campaign memorabilia can be had for under $20, with some priced as low as one to five dollars. However, St. Clair admits to paying more for an item or two that was particularly unique or collectible.
A keen interest in history also has helped fuel St. Clair’s interest in political paraphernalia. He is currently a senior in the College of Education, Health and Human Services, majoring in integrated social studies, and hopes to pursue a career as a social studies and history teacher when he graduates. It was Kent State’s own unique place in American history that made the university his first choice for his own education.
A native of Niles, Ohio, which is also the birthplace of William McKinley, 25th U.S. President, St. Clair specializes in McKinley memorabilia, including an 1896 gold pin in the shape of a bee, which pops open to reveal the faces of McKinley and his running mate, Garret Hobart, on the wings.
One of the rarest items in his collection is a pin-back button from the 1917 inauguration of Ohio Governor James Cox.
St. Clair keeps photos of his whole collection archived on his phone and regularly attends regional, state and national conventions of the American Political Item Collectors (APIC). One of the aspects he likes about the organization is that the political collectors are hobbyists and remain non-political when they get together, focusing on the items and their historical significance.
“We don’t talk politics, it never comes up,” he said.
It was Lori Hicks Boes, former assistant director of the May 4 Visitors Center, who first got him interested in displaying his collections on campus. She referred St. Clair to Mary Lovin, event coordinator of University Libraries, who arranged for him to display his collections.
St. Clair has curated a May 4, 1970, display, another based on the presidential campaigns from 1896 to 2020, and another on civil rights. For next year, he is thinking about a display on President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal, to mark the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
Currently, St. Clair’s displays in the University Library focus on President Jimmy Carter, in honor of Carter’s recent 99th birthday on Oct. 1, and St. Clair is quick to point out that Carter is his personal hero. His Carter collection numbers more than 500 items, representing every stage of his life or political career.
When he was 15, St. Clair’s parents took him to Carter’s hometown of Plains, Georgia, where they waited in line beginning at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning to get a seat at services at Carter’s church, so that he could meet the president and attend the Sunday School class that Carter and his wife Rosalynn taught at the time. He also was able to have his photo taken with his favorite president.
St. Clair is hoping to add to his collection one of the “Jimmy Carter 99” ballcaps, which were made for the president’s recent birthday.
Another item on his wish list is a button that features photos of both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, his vice-presidential running mate in the 1944 election. A button that pictures two candidates is known as a “jugate.”
And how does St. Clair pay to support his political collecting habit? He has his own business making political buttons for current candidates in Trumbull, Mahoning, Columbiana and Geauga counties in Northeast Ohio.
The enterprise earns him enough to cover his collecting and then some. Plus, he sometimes gets to meet future office holders before they get elected.
St. Clair uses his knowledge of historical buttons to design just the right image for modern candidates, and sometimes he is even able to show them buttons that have worked for winning candidates in the past and add a vintage look to their designs.
“I’ll show them, here’s what’s worked in the past,” St. Clair said.