Pinback button featuring Mary Mcleod Bethune from Mae's Millinery Shop: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A pinback button from Mae's Millinery Shop featuring a portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune. The image is a detail of the postal stamp of Bethune, with her name partially cut off and printed in black above her head. There is a pinback closure on the metal reverse and engraved text reading "BADGE / -A- / MINIT / LaSalle / ILL 61301".

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1985-1994
• Manufactured by: Badge-A-Minit, American
• Owned by: Mae Reeves, American, 1912 - 2016
• Subject of: Mae's Millinery Shop, American, 1941 - 1994
• Subject of: Mary McLeod Bethune, American, 1875 - 1955
• Type: portraits
• Type: buttons (information artifacts)
• Medium: ink on paper, metal, plastic
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 2 1/2 × 2 1/2 × 1/4 in. (6.4 × 6.4 × 0.6 cm)
• Place collected: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
• Place made: LaSalle, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Black Enterprise
• Topic: Business
• Topic: Millinery
• Topic: Social reform
• Topic: Women
• Object number: 2010.6.193
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from Mae Reeves and her children, Donna Limerick and William Mincey, Jr.
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.