Explore New Jersey’s Role in American Button-Making Innovation

As button collectors in New Jersey, we have access to a rich trove of button lore – in the history of button making and in the culture of button collecting. In 2026, when we tap those legacies, we will introduce newcomers to the world of buttons.

How? As individuals and as a state society we have the opportunity to focus our collecting and research efforts around finding the New Jersey-based stories and bringing them to life. As individuals, we can create New Jersey-themed trays for competition or display and contribute them to exhibitions in museums and libraries. We can also do reports, perhaps for our local clubs, on some aspect of a NJ-related theme.

As a state society, we are revising our webpage to include a “Made in New Jersey” section that will include all the images and information that we gather. When a school child or a scholar surfs for information on a material or a person or an incident in history – our website, as it yields intriguing information, will introduce that person to the wonders of button lore.

We can also use these Jersey-themed materials for the displays in libraries and museums and as topics for the speakers we send to local groups.

The outline in “Made in New Jersey: A Legacy of Button Craft” will get you thinking about possible topics. You may think “we’ve done that already.” Yes! Over the years, we’ve had articles and reports on many of these topics and some of the work is indeed “camera ready.”

Imagine this outline is a “Poke Box,” an “Idea Poke Box” for you to choose something for a club report, a special display, or a photo and caption for our website. What appeals to you? To focus on a material? A button that pictures a moment in history? A city? A studio artist, a collecting pioneer? It can be anything! Anything goes! We’re creating a website, not a text book. We don’t have to cover everything.

— Barbara Fox