"Race For The White House" Exhibit Opens At Baylor's W.R. Poage Legislative Library
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Contact: Lori Fogleman, (254) 710-6275
Exhibit includes past presidential campaign materials from buttons to bumper stickers and other "unusual" items
WACO, Texas (Sept. 20, 2012) - Presidential campaigns of the past come to the forefront again as Baylor University's W.R. Poage Legislative Library opens "Race for the White House," a fascinating exhibit of past presidential campaign materials ranging from campaign buttons to intriguing 3-D materials.
Featured items represent many of America's most famous presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan, as well as campaign materials from many presidential hopefuls, such as William Jennings Bryan, Thomas Dewey, Adlai Stevenson and Barry Goldwater.
The items on display show how the different candidates used colors, slogans and themes to rally their supporters. The materials vary from items as common as posters and bumper stickers to the unusual ones, such as a gold button of a bug for President William McKinley and Russian nesting dolls with images of the Bush and Clinton families.
The exhibit will run from now until November 2012 in the W.R. Poage Exhibit Hall, which is located on the first floor of Poage Library for Graduate Studies and Research between Moody and Jones libraries on the Baylor campus.
The materials featured in the exhibit came to the library from several donors. The bulk is from Dr. Bob Platt, a collector of political materials since the 1930s. The Poage Library was able to acquire the materials from Platt through a generous donation from the John and JD Dowdy Foundation. The materials from Platt now make up the Platt Dowdy Presidential Campaign Collection in the library.
The W.R. Poage Legislative Library was opened in 1979 and is home to Baylor University's collection of political materials. It houses the papers of 12 of the U.S. Congressmen who have served McLennan County, as well as the papers of former Texas Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock. Poage Library is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit will be open for Baylor Homecoming on Saturday, Nov. 3, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information about the exhibit, contact Ben Rogers, director of Poage Library, at (254) 710-3540 or Ben_Rogers@baylor.edu or visit Poage Library online at www.baylor.edu/lib/poage.
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Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, classified as such with "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest, continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Texas, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions.
ABOUT THE BAYLOR UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
The Baylor University Libraries connect people with ideas in support of teaching, learning, scholarship and academic distinction through its Central Libraries and special collections libraries - Armstrong Browning Library, the Electronic Library, The Texas Collection and the W.R. Poage Legislative Library.