Buttons highlight children's literature
Three year old Ruth Hertz points to her favorite character on a Mickey Mouse button card as her mother Joelle shows her the different buttons in the children's section of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.
MATTHEW STEPHENS/Press
A button featuring a children's poem "Wynken, Blynken and Nod," first published March 9, 1889.
More modern buttons featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
COEUR d’ALENE — Guests to the Coeur d’Alene Public Library can walk through history because the Historic Button Club has a display set up through the month of March.
Club member Simone Kincaid said the display correlates with National Button Week, which starts March 11.
Kincaid said she has been collecting buttons for 40 to 50 years and has an expansive collection.
She said she put hundreds of hours into preparing for the display this year, also. She shows off hundreds of buttons across 74 cards for the current display.
“We have a good partnership with the library,” Kincaid said. “So, this time we are setting up the display to highlight children’s books, stories, nursery rhymes and more.”
Kincaid said they included buttons that feature characters from books past and present. Some of the buttons are more than 100 years old.
Joelle Hertz took daughter Ruth to see the display and said she was surprised with the intricacies involved with historic buttons.
“I didn’t realize how much history can be involved with something as common as buttons,” Hertz said. “I look at the displays and wonder how much time it took to create some of these buttons.”
From Mickey Mouse to Star Wars, and from Henny Penny to the Ninja Turtles, there are buttons from every era.
“My mom was an antique dealer when I was growing up,” Kincaid said. “I initially got interested in vintage clothing and started collecting buttons.”
Kincaid said over the years she has amassed a collection of more than 100,000 buttons and puts them on display so people can learn about them.
Pam Rodkey said she has been involved with the group since last June.
“I came into one of the club’s meetings trying to get some of my buttons identified,” Rodkey said. “They were able to help me figure it out and I immediately got addicted to buttons.”
“It is a really fun icebreaker to talk about when you meet people, as well,” she added.
A button featuring a children's poem "Wynken, Blynken and Nod," first published March 9, 1889.
More modern buttons featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.