They’re small. But it’s their size that draws you in. Their messages are big, and it's those messages that still resonate decades after their creation.
They read everything from “Give ‘em hell Hillary” to “Trans Pride” even a “Caitlyn for California,” a relic of conservative trans influencer Caitlyn Jenner’s failed bid for governor of California.
Hundreds of political/activist pins are on display at the Stonewall National Museum Archives & Library. The exhibit’s opening reception was Jan. 23.
“[The opening] was good and diverse and people talked about and recollected the people and issues,” Stonewall CEO Robert Kesten said. “It made for good conversation and brought people to the museum I’ve never met.”
Many of the pins are from the personal collection of Stephen Driscoll. They’re on display on glass-covered easels. Pins from other sources are in cabinets. The coolest display is a blue jean jacket covered in political pins, evoking images of the sixties of protesters.
“The pins they wore indicated where they stood, sometimes silently, but heard nonetheless through the words and pictures they wore,” Kesten said, adding that the permanency of pins is being lost to modernity. “Today we have the temporary language of stickers, far less permanent than the tin and metal pins of decades past.”
Will You Wear My Pin? is on display through Feb. 17.
Photo courtesy of Stonewall National Museum Archives & Library.
