The 2024 Democratic National Convention will feature politicians and delegates from across the country in addition to political history curators from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. They will collect so-called “ephemera” – items that individuals wear, carry around, distribute, display or otherwise use through the convention.
Jeff Inglis, US politics editor at The Conversation, spoke to Claire Jerry and Lisa Kathleen Graddy about what they’ve seen to date and the way participants are using a wide selection of things, including those in an area called “DemPalooza.” They haven't seen any “hot meal”-themed items related to vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who’s governor of Minnesota, where any such meal is very fashionable. But they’ve seen cheese-shaped hats and a few very interesting pins.
English: What have you ever seen or collected to date?
Grady: Some of the buttons we’ve seen consult with the memes which have appeared. One of the buttons reads “Coconut farmers for Harris,” a reference to her mother's saying, “Do you think that you simply fell out of a coconut tree?”
On August 20, I used to be sitting on a shuttle to the convention center. There were a pair of girls sitting next to me, and one in all them said she didn't have any buttons yet, so the opposite one – I'd say in her late 60s, early 70s – offered her a button to wear. As she handed her a button, she said, “Here, you can wear one of mine. I don't know why it says 'coconut' on it. Maybe it's a nod to her heritage.”
And I assumed, “Interesting! You're obviously not on social media. You don't have saw this as a meme.”
Lisa Kathleen Graddy, National Museum of American History
There was also a button that said “Influencers for Harris,” and I assumed that was interesting since it's so closely related to social media influencers, and I'd never seen anything like that before. In 2016, (my colleague Jon Grinspan) and I were intrigued by the indisputable fact that Twitter had a booth. I feel we picked up a few little buttons with the Twitter and Instagram logos. That was very recent to the campaign process. Now there are individuals with press passes that specifically say “Creator.”
English: Press cards used to say “Washington Post” or “Chicago Tribune.”
Jerry: In our collection, we’ve media convention badges dating back to the early days of the twentieth century. Some say “telegraph operator.” Some say “newspaper.” They're very specific. We probably don't have any telegraph operators working within the media industry at this convention. Now it's “influencer.”
English: Are there other objects which can be connected to the past not directly?
Lisa Kathleen Graddy, National Museum of American History
Grady: One of our products is a classic. I all the time wish to see what individuals are buying within the official merchandise shop. I wish to refer to people and see what they’re buying, what people like and what’s popular.
There's a brooch that claims “Harris 2024” that's covered in rhinestones. I've seen people pick it up and say, “Oh, look at the bling.” And I can never resist stopping and explaining that that is a convention that goes back to the “I like Ike” of rhinestone campaign jewelry. It's nice to see that's still occurring. Somewhat bling in a campaign never goes out of favor.
English: There were some pretty outstanding people speaking on Tuesday night. Have any Obama or Clinton campaign materials resurfaced?
Grady: I'm sure someone somewhere has their Obama button or one in all their buttons from a previous campaign on their lanyard. That's just what people do.
Jerry: I actually saw that on the Republican National Convention. People walked by and a few were wearing Reagan buttons. I even saw some people wearing Nixon buttons on the Republican National Convention. So I believe that Lisa Kathleen is correct and that individual delegates who were perhaps delegates in 2008 were wearing buttons.
Read more: “MAGA BLACK” hats, clear swag bags, the primary Trump/Vance signs: Highlights of what the Smithsonian archives from the Republican National Convention
Grady: I like people's lanyards. One day I'd wish to see someone give us their entire lanyard once they don't need it anymore and their kids don't want it anymore. Because it's like their political past is written on their lanyard.
English: Almost like a resume.
Grady: It's all their memories. I mean, that's the fabric culture, right? Your memories, right? The things that you just keep and store on a bookshelf or in scrapbooks and hope your kids will see.
Jerry: Those are two great metaphors. It's your memoir and your resume. You're saying, “I'm really not just an occasional delegate. I've been taking this seriously for a long time, and when I look at the buttons, I see my first convention or my first vote.”
English: What was the scene like on the convention center?
Grady: I like when everyone has their join on a pole. There's only a sea of signs. When (President Joe) Biden got here out to talk, when you looked down, you couldn't see the people. What you saw was only a sea of signs. It's just incredible.
Jerry: There were no such signs on vertical poles on the Republican National Convention, in contrast to the ocean of signs.
Grady: It's a really democratic thing. They've been doing it for years. I'll be honest: we take the stick out before it goes to the museum because then it's easier to store.
You see the convention staff come out with bags, big green bags full of these signs. And they begin handing them out and passing them down the rows so people can hold them up at a certain point. You can't give everyone an indication, but you form of know they're going to react to something in a speech because they're all tuned in to the speeches.
And you simply know when the time is correct. I mean, you may wave your “Jill” sign any time (First Lady) Jill Biden comes out, or when Doug (Emhoff, Kamala Harris' husband) comes out and waves his “Doug” sign. But I watched them bring out the massive signs on sticks that said “vote” and thought, “What's the cue for that?”
At one point in Obama's speech, he says something and folks start booing. Then he says, “No, no, don't boo – vote.” And all of the signs went up.
A former colleague of ours used to call it “sign discipline.” Sign discipline could be very strict on the Democratic Convention. I'm fascinated by how signs are used at each conventions. They're used for the cameras and so they're used for attendance. So as you attend, you're making visual statements for the event. There's a form of call and response.
Jerry: Another metaphor could be choreography, a dance forwards and backwards between the speakers and the individuals with the signs. Sometimes it's almost as when you can see the dance from one side of the room that has put up their signs, and now the entire room is joining in.
image credit : theconversation.com