Cynthia Bartlett, past president, left, knew Sara Howell’s aunt.

Cynthia Bartlett is a long-time button collector who is a past president of the New Jersey State Button Society. She explains how she fell in love with buttons:

“I did not inherit a collection; my entire collection is “self bought.” I kept a list – the material, an illustration if I think I am going to forget it, and what I paid. I had never known a collector until, in the ‘70s, I met Annie and Johnson Frazier at a flea market. Annie had cards of buttons but she had other items to sell too. She told me about a club that just down the street from Sonia and John Force. (Sara Howell is the grandniece of one of the ladies so helpful to me at that time). I spent many years traveling with Anne Flood and other collectors, going to national and regional shows. Close to home, our New Jersey clubs have been a great resource for me to find and learn about buttons.”

Cynthia Bartlett, past president, and Jackie Moreno, board member welcome visitors to the NJSBS Show and Competition.