This kerchief was used for the presidential campaign of New York Governor Alfred E. Smith in 1928. Smith lost the election to Republican Herbert Hoover.

This handkerchief was used in the 1940 presidential campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

This scarf, designed in the "groovy" aesthetic of the 1960s, was issued during Richard M. Nixon's 1968 bid for the presidency.

Today's political memorabilia is dominated by the campaign T-shirt, baseball cap, bumper sticker, and coffee mug; bandannas are rarely produced as an official campaign item. However, the George W. Bush campaign created a whole line of "ranch" items reflecting the president's Texas roots, including this bandanna. In the age of text-messaging, it is assumed that voters will have no trouble identifying the candidate by a single initial.

The "Dutch Tulip" variation pieced square inscribed with "Miss Clara Bidwell" (INV.11961a) and the appliquéd maltese cross square inscribed "Mrs. M. Quigley" (INV.11961b) are related, as they are of similar size, white cotton ground, and hand of inscribed signatures. Their fabrics also date to the same period, c. 1870. The pieced "Lemoyne Star" (INV.11961c) square does not relate to the other two as it is of a smaller size, a slightly different white cotton ground and contains no signature.

The appliquéd maltese cross design was probably cut from a pattern before being applied to the square, as was often done by quilt makers when creating friendship, album or signature quilts or quilt squares. Popular in the mid-nineteenth century, these quilts were usually given to an individual to commemorate a birth, marriage or move away from the local area. Squares were often given as keepsakes to ladies of a community or church congregation who were moving west. Relates to INV.11961a.

Catherine Kip (1824-1836), the daughter of Leonard William Kip and Anna Corbet, was working this sampler at the time of her death at age twelve. A typical sampler of the 1830s, it includes the alphabet worked in various stitches and a poem about the fleeting qualities of youth. Catherine was a descendent of Jacobus Kip, whose farm covered much of today's Kips Bay in the 17th century. Her family lived at 94 Spring Street, near Broadway.

Clarissa Ward (1795-1878) was the second eldest of Jonathan and Sarah Brown Ward's thirteen children. Born in the rural village of Eastchester, today a neighborhood in the northeastern Bronx, Clarissa and her sister Harriot (2003.85.1) probably worked their samplers at a girls' school in nearby New Rochelle or Manhattan. Neither Clarissa nor Harriot ever married. Clarissa's verse is from John Bunyan's "A Book for Boys and Girls," published in London in 1701.

Harriot Ward (1794-1875) was the eldest of Jonathan and Sarah Brown Ward's thirteen children. Born in the rural village of Eastchester, today a neighborhood in the northeastern Bronx, Harriot and her sister Clarissa (2003.85.2) probably worked their samplers at a girls' school in nearby New Rochelle or Manhattan. Harriot never married, but put her sewing skills to use working as a dressmaker in Manhattan in the 1860s.