{"id":37344,"date":"2024-08-25T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=37344"},"modified":"2024-09-12T15:13:03","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T15:13:03","slug":"coconut-farmers-for-harris-influencers-and-vertical-signs-smithsonian-curators-encounters-at-the-democratic-national-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/coconut-farmers-for-harris-influencers-and-vertical-signs-smithsonian-curators-encounters-at-the-democratic-national-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Coconut farmers for Harris,\u2019 influencers and vertical signs \u2013 Smithsonian curators\u2019 encounters at the Democratic National Convention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claire Jerry<\/a>, Smithsonian Institution<\/a><\/em> and Lisa Kathleen Graddy<\/a>, Smithsonian Institution<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the 2024 Democratic National Convention alongside politicians and delegates from across the country are political history curators from the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History, who are collecting what museum curators call \u201cephemera\u201d \u2013 items that people wear, carry, hand out, display or otherwise use during the convention.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conversation U.S. politics editor Jeff Inglis spoke with Claire Jerry<\/a> and Lisa Kathleen Graddy<\/a> about what they have seen so far and how attendees are using a wide range of items, including those distributed in an area called \u201cDemPalooza<\/a>.\u201d They have not yet seen any hot dish-themed items referring to vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who is the governor of Minnesota, where that type of meal is popular. But they have seen cheese-shaped hats and a couple of very interesting lapel pin-type buttons.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inglis<\/strong>: What have you seen or collected so far?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graddy<\/strong>: Some of the buttons we\u2019ve been seeing are referencing the memes that have been coming out. One of the buttons says \u201cCoconut farmers for Harris,\u201d a riff on her mother\u2019s saying, \u201cDo you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was sitting on a shuttle on Aug. 20, heading to the convention center. There were a couple of women sitting near me, and one said she didn\u2019t have any buttons yet, so the other \u2013 if I were going to hazard a guess at her age, I would say late 60s, early 70s \u2013 offered her a button to wear. As she was handing her a button, she said, \u201cHere, you can wear one of mine. I don\u2019t know why it says \u2018coconut\u2019 on it. Maybe it\u2019s referencing her heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I thought, \u201cInteresting! You\u2019re obviously not on social media. You haven\u2019t seen this as a meme<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A new type of supporter for political campaigns has emerged. Lisa Kathleen Graddy, National Museum of American History<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There also was a button that said \u201cInfluencers for Harris,\u201d and I thought that was interesting because it\u2019s so tapped into social media influencing, and I\u2019ve never seen that. In 2016 (fellow curator Jon Grinspan) and I were intrigued by the fact that Twitter had a booth. I think we picked up some little buttons with the Twitter and Instagram logos. It was very new as part of the campaign process. Now, there are people with press badges that say specifically \u201ccreator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inglis<\/strong>: Press badges used to say \u201cWashington Post\u201d or \u201cChicago Tribune.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerry:<\/strong> In our collection, we have convention badges for media, going back to the early days of the 20th century. Some of them will say \u201ctelegraph operator.\u201d Some of them will say \u201cnewspaper.\u201d They\u2019re very specific. We don\u2019t probably have any telegraph operators working media at this convention. Now, it\u2019s \u201cinfluencer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inglis<\/strong>: Are there other items that connect with the past in some way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Rhinestones never go out of style. Lisa Kathleen Graddy, National Museum of American History<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Graddy<\/strong>: One thing that we picked up is a classic. I always like to see what people are picking up in the official merchandise shop. I like to chat with people and see what they\u2019re buying, see what\u2019s really resonating with people and what\u2019s popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a brooch that says \u201cHarris 2024,\u201d and it is bedazzled, rhinestone-esque. I\u2019ve seen people picking it up and saying, \u201cOh look at the bling.\u201d And I can never resist stopping to explain that\u2019s in a tradition that goes back to \u201cI like Ike\u201d of rhinestone campaign jewelry. It\u2019s nice to see that that is still continuing. A little bling in a campaign never goes out of fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inglis<\/strong>: On Tuesday night, there were some pretty prominent people who spoke. Were there any Obama or Clinton campaign materials that resurfaced?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graddy<\/strong>: I\u2019m sure someone, somewhere on their lanyard, is wearing their Obama button or one of their buttons from a past campaign. People tend to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerry<\/strong>: I certainly saw that at the Republican National Convention. People would walk by and some people had Reagan buttons on. I actually saw some people wearing Nixon buttons at the RNC. So I would guess that Lisa Kathleen\u2019s right, that individual delegates, who might have been a delegate in 2008, would be wearing buttons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graddy<\/strong>: I love people\u2019s lanyards. One day I want to see somebody give us their entire lanyard, when they\u2019re completely done with it, if their kids don\u2019t want it. Because it\u2019s like their history in politics is on their lanyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inglis<\/strong>: Like a resume almost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graddy<\/strong>: It\u2019s all their memories. I mean, that\u2019s what material culture is, isn\u2019t it? Your memories, right? The stuff that you save and you have in a bookcase and you save in scrapbooks and you hope your kids will see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerry<\/strong>: Those are two great metaphors. It\u2019s your memories and it\u2019s your resume. It\u2019s saying, \u201cI really am not just a casual delegate. I\u2019ve been serious about this for a long time, and when I look at the buttons, what I see is my first convention or my first vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inglis<\/strong>: What has the scene been like on the convention floor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graddy<\/strong>: I love when everybody holds up their sign on a pole. There\u2019s just a sea of them. When (President Joe) Biden came out to speak, looking down you couldn\u2019t see the people. What you were seeing was simply a sea of signs. It\u2019s just amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerry<\/strong>: There were no signs like that on vertical sticks as a sea of signs at the Republican convention. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lwLmOI6r_XY?wmode=transparent&start=534 Former President Barack Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graddy<\/strong>: It\u2019s a very Democratic thing. They\u2019ve been doing this for years. I\u2019ll be honest: We take the stick out before it gets to the museum because it\u2019s easier to store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see the convention staff coming out with bags, big green bags filled with these signs. And they start handing them out and passing them down the rows for people to hold up at a certain point. You can\u2019t cue everybody, but you sort of know, because they\u2019re all keyed to the speeches, it\u2019s going to respond to something in a speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you just sort of know about the right timing. I mean, you can wave your \u201cJill\u201d sign at any point when (first lady) Jill Biden comes out, or when Doug (Emhoff, Kamala Harris\u2019 husband) comes out, waving your \u201cDoug\u201d sign. But I was watching them bring out the big signs on sticks that said \u201cVote\u201d and I thought, \u201cWhat\u2019s the cue for that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a point in (former President Barack) Obama\u2019s speech, he says something, and people start to boo, and he says, \u201cNo, no, don\u2019t boo \u2013 vote.\u201d And all the signs went up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former colleague of ours used to refer to it as \u201csign discipline.\u201d The sign discipline is very tight at the Democratic convention. I\u2019m fascinated with the way both conventions use the sign. It\u2019s done for the cameras and it\u2019s done for participation, so while you are participating, you are making visual statements for the event. There\u2019s a level of call and response to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerry<\/strong>: Another metaphor would be choreography, a dance back and forth between the speakers and the people with the signs. Sometimes it\u2019s almost like you can see the dance spreading from one side of the room that put their signs up and now the whole room is going to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire Jerry<\/a>, Political History Curator, Smithsonian Institution<\/a><\/em> and Lisa Kathleen Graddy<\/a>, Political History Curator, Smithsonian Institution<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claire Jerry, Smithsonian Institution and Lisa Kathleen Graddy, Smithsonian Institution At the 2024 Democratic National Convention alongside politicians and delegates from across the country are political history curators from the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History, who are collecting what museum curators call \u201cephemera\u201d \u2013 items that people wear, carry, hand out, display or otherwise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":37345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[115,46,296,4],"tags":[1138,529,771,7319,885,891,886,860,14129,475],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37347,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37344\/revisions\/37347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}