Changes over the course of the nineteenth century in how Americans voted, from voice vote to public ballot box to private voting booth, also saw changes in the material culture that surrounded voting. Ballots and ballot boxes, campaign pins and ribbons, blank lists and pre-printed party tickets, lanterns and banners–the creative forces of the American print industry filled the country’s cities and small towns with the ephemera of electioneering.

As you look at the items in this exhibit, think about what they tell us about how Americans in the past felt about voting, and about how voting felt. How did Election Days feel when they were full of parades and music and public drinking? What was it like to vote when everyone around you knew who you voted for? And, most of all, who counted as a voter, and who did the counting?

On view September 11-December 22, weekdays from 12-4 pm.