With the presidential election less than a month away, there is a barrage of political paraphernalia and tchotchkes everywhere you look. Probably even the places you don't look, if you live in a swing state. Over time, whether red or blue, some of these items will gather meaning (and possibly value) and become prized possessions, serving as a reminder of maybe the first election you participated in, a campaign you donated to, or a historical object passed down from a politically passionate family member.
Do you have any political memorabilia you are saving? We want to see the material from past presidential elections that still resonates and holds meaning to you. Share your photos and their stories with us.
How do you participate?
- Submit your photographs on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag: #NBCNewsPics
- In the caption (or a tweet), tell us why this object is important to you.
- Or simply upload your photo in the box below:
We’ll select our favorites and publish them on PhotoBlog next week. Stay tuned!
The Smithsonian's National Museum of American history has an entire collection of these objects. The curators of its political division, Harry Rubenstein and William Lawrence Bird, attend both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in order to maintain the museum's status as “the largest holding of presidential campaign material in the United States.” In a conversation with NBC News published this past August, Bird says of the collection:
There are about 100,000 objects. They have been gathered to reflect the nation’s political culture since the beginning of the colonial settlements up through the current 2012 political campaigns. The Smithsonian Institution made a commitment to build a major national collection to show the political process and the story of American democracy when it opened the National Museum in 1964.
Read our full interview with "Harry and Larry."
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