Page 39 - March 2025

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utton
March 2025 The NaTioNal ButtonBulleTiN 37
price for an exceptional ‘paper-weight’
3
button.” Described as a glass button
with the design made inside, the cost of
that paperweight button was equivalent
to about $560 today. 4

Later in the November 1939 issue, an
article puts a spotlight on the youngest
charter member of the National Button
Society, identified as Aileen Brock
of Catskanie , OR. Aileen and her “I am sending you a picture of me showing a part
5
mother submitted a letter to the editor, of my collection of buttons . I have lots more but
introducing the youngster and writing couldn’t get them in the picture,” writes Aileen .
that the National Button Society gave her a button from the charm string of Eliza
Washington, whose father, Col. William Augustus Washington, “was the favorite
nephew of George Washington.” Aileen goes on to say, “I have buttons from 21
different countries in my collection and have lots of buttons that were brought to
Oregon by covered wagon in 1847 and ’49.” She notes among her holdings “two
buttons from the medical guard to the Ex-Kaiser,” “one used on a wedding dress
in France in 1866,” and “lots of modern novelty ones, too.” She concludes by
saying, “I’m eight years old now and have over eight thousand buttons.”
6
The National Button Society has gone from strength to strength since these early
beginnings, and now in its eighth decade enjoys a reach perhaps unimagined by its
founders. But what of our youngest charter member? Do any of our current Oregon
club members have further information about Aileen? Let us hear from you!
Footnotes
1. For detailed information on the creation of the NBS, read Jane Albanowski’s “The Birth of a Great
American Hobby” in the October 2009 issue of The National Button Bulletin.
2. “What’s New in Notions: Button Collectors to Exhibit.” Notion & Novelty Review 48, no. 2 (October
1939): 51.
3. “News of Notions: Button Now Collectors’ Item.” Notion & Novelty Review 48, no. 3 (November
1939): 48.
4. CPI Inflation Calculator. (2024). Retrieved from https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/
inflation/1939?amount=25
5. Likely a misspelling of Clatskanie, OR.
6. “At Eight Years of Age Aileen Brock Has Collected Over 8,000 Buttons.” Notion & Novelty Review
48, no. 3 (November 1939): 63.
References
“At Eight Years of Age Aileen Brock Has Collected Over 8,000 Buttons.” Notion & Novelty Review 48,
no. 3 (November 1939): 63.
“News of Notions: Button Now Collectors’ Item.” Notion & Novelty Review 48, no. 3 (November
1939): 48.
“What’s New in Notions: Button Collectors to Exhibit.” Notion & Novelty Review 48, no. 2 (October
1939): 51.
Carole Adrian has been a button collector since she saw a photograph of calico buttons
years ago, and fell in love at first sight. She lives in New York City, and since retiring from the
administrative staff of The Juilliard School, now has more time to enjoy her remarkable city –
and more time to immerse herself in the wonderful world of buttons.