Explore presidential elections through the years with the “Center of Attention: Elections” exhibit

Ohio University Libraries’ Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections has a new exhibit up on display titled, "The Center of Attention: Elections.” Taking place on the fifth floor of Alden Library outside of the Mahn Center, this exhibit takes viewers through the past while exploring the fascinating history of presidential promotional materials. The display will be up all fall semester long.

With 2024 being an election year, the exhibit is timely and intentional. There are four themes shown throughout: Contentious Elections, Women in Elections, Changing Tactics and Connecting the Past and Present. The collection primarily has material from the 1820s to the 1960s with artifacts such as paper items like electoral tickets from late 1800s elections, newspapers and political cartoons as well as 3-D objects such as a donkey lighter, cigarettes from former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s campaign and a bandana from Theodore Roosevelt’s campaign in 1912.

Hester Lambright, a junior studying history and a student assistant with the archives, is the curator for the exhibit. With the help of her supervisor, Greta Suiter, manuscripts archivist, Hester wrote in an email that she wanted to highlight information that might not typically be taught in a regular curriculum or be common knowledge. She also wanted it to be fun with unique items from the past that showcase what the collection has to offer.

“I knew we wanted to discuss contentious elections in the past,” Lambright wrote.“ However, as I went through the collection, I wanted to focus on more than just the difficult times. Due to the variety of materials, I was able to create themes to bring out some of the fun things, or items that helped expand on facts many might not know about.”

Lambright also mentioned that she was specifically excited to work on the “Women in Elections” theme as she wrote it was important to her to highlight the involvement of women in elections as much as the collections would allow and was one of the first themes she created.

“As I went through the collection, I found pins, advertisements and jewelry that were marketed to women before they could even vote,” Lambright wrote. “This made me want to expand on their involvement and persuasion on the results of elections behind the scenes. I was thankful we also recently acquired a Shirley Chisolm poster, the first Black woman who ran for president, to incorporate into the exhibit, as well.”

Make sure to check out the Collection of Presidential Campaigns Artifacts’ exhibit at any point throughout the fall 2024 semester outside the Mahn Center on the fifth floor of Alden Library.

For more information about the exhibit, please contact Greta Suiter at suiter@ohio.edu.