Button

File:Spanish button ca. 1650-75 12mm f&b.jpg

Buttons and button-like objects used as ornaments or seals rather than fasteners have been discovered in the Indus Valley civilization during its Kot Diji phase (c. 2800–2600 BC).{{cite web|url=http://www.harappa.com/indus2/128.html|title=Fired steatite button|last=Khan|first=Omar|year=1999|work=The Indus Civilization|publisher=harrapa.com|access-date=11 March 2010|location=San Francisco, USA}} Buttons as apparel have been found at sites of the Catacomb culture, Russia (2500-1950 BC), at the Tomb of the Eagles, Scotland (2200–1800 BC),{{Cite web |date=2018-08-27 |title=A Day in the Neolithic: A Walk Through 5,000-year-old Scotland at the Tomb of the Eagles |url=https://www.seniorhikermagazine.com/a-day-in-the-neolithic-a-walk-through-5000-year-old-scotland-at-the-tomb-of-the-eagles/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519173031/https://www.seniorhikermagazine.com/a-day-in-the-neolithic-a-walk-through-5000-year-old-scotland-at-the-tomb-of-the-eagles/ |archive-date=2024-05-19 |access-date=2020-10-24 |website=Senior Hiker Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite book|last=Mamwell|first=Caroline Jane|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5clOvwEACAAJ|title='It Rained a Lot and Nothing Much Happened': Settlement and Society in Bronze Age Orkney|date=2018|publisher=University of Edinburgh|pages=146|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Hedges|first=John W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLHvMEWhOBUC&q=Button|title=Tomb of the Eagles: Death and Life in a Stone Age Tribe|date=1998-04-21|publisher=New Amsterdam Books|isbn=978-1-4617-3268-6|pages=152|language=en}} and at Bronze Age sites in China (c. 2000–1500 BC) and Ancient Rome.

Buttons made from seashell were used by the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BC.Hesse, Rayner W. & Hesse (Jr.), Rayner W. (2007). Jewelrymaking Through History: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. 35. {{ISBN|0-313-33507-9}}. Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and were pierced so that they could be attached to clothing with thread. Ian McNeil (1990) holds that "the button was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley. It is made of a curved shell and is about 5000 years old."McNeil, Ian (1990). An encyclopaedia of the history of technology. Taylor & Francis. 852. {{ISBN|0-415-01306-2}}.

Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty left behind ornate wig covers, fabricated through sewing buttons formed of precious metals onto strips of backing material.{{Cite book |last=Shaw |first=Garry J. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.30861/9781407303086 |title=Royal Authority in Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty |date=2008 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-1-4073-0308-6 |location=Ann Arbor, MI|doi=10.30861/9781407303086 }}

Leatherwork from the Roman Empire incorporates some of the first buttonholes, with the legionary's loculus closed through the insertion of a metallic buckle, or button into a leather slit. A similar mechanism would later feature in early medieval footwear.{{Cite web|title=Viking Boot: History of York|url=http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/timeline/viking/viking-boot|access-date=2020-11-14|website=www.historyofyork.org.uk}}

Buttons appeared as a means to close cuffs in the Byzantine Empire and to fasten the necks of Egyptian tunics by no later than the 5th century.{{Cite web|title=The Westward Journeys of Buttons - AramcoWorld|url=https://www.aramcoworld.com/Articles/November-2020/The-Westward-Journeys-of-Buttons|access-date=2020-11-28|website=www.aramcoworld.com}}

It has been proposed that the European Crusaders brought the innovation of the buttonhole back from the Middle East, allowing for more fitted garments for men. About this time, the Vikings were also using buttons, which they had come across through their trading partners.{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Elizabeth |title=The Big Book of Buttons: The Encyclopedia of Button History, Design, and Identification |last2=Lester |first2=Marion |publisher=St. Johann Press |year=2010 |isbn=9781878282712 |edition=2nd |location=Haworth, NJ |language=en}}{{Rp|page=xix}} Prior to the introduction of the buttonhole, two pieces of fabric were butted together, rather than overlapped, and toggles, belts, or lacings were used.{{Cite book |last=Fink |first=Nancy |title=Buttons: the collector's guide to selecting, restoring and enjoying new and vintage buttons |last2=Ditzler |first2=Maryalice |date=1993 |publisher=Courage Books |isbn=978-1-56138-215-6 |location=Philadelphia, PA}}{{Rp|page=9}}{{Cite book |last=Godoroja |first=Lucy |title=All Buttons Great and Small |publisher=Exisle |year=2023 |isbn=9781925820836 |location=Chatswood, Australia |pages= |language=en}}{{Rp|page=19}} The growing importance of buttons was marked by the establishment of button making guilds in the 13th century. Initially, King Louis IX of France included button makers in the established rosary makers guild, but later regulations categorized button makers in three categories: those who worked in horn, bone, and ivory, those who used metals, and makers who used precious metals and glass.{{Rp|pages=19-20}}

File:Doublet.jpg

The fitted fashions of the Renaissance required buttons to achieve their shape. For example, the tight-fitting jacket known as the doublet required rows of many buttons. An additional opportunity to use buttons came with the incorporatinon of detachable sleeves into garments. This practice had been in use in Florence since the 1200s. Sleeves could be switched out to be washed or to be replaced by fancier sleeves demanded by particular settings. Women's fashion that this time still used lacings, and thus buttons on their clothing were generally decorative.{{Rp|page=9}}

Buttons were also impacted by the elegant culture of the Renaissance courts. They were no longer seen as simply utilitarian objects, but rather as luxury items that could reflect wealth and status. These buttons, some of which were made of precious metal encrusted with jewels, be seen as jewelry.{{Cite book |last=Buzzaccarini |first=Vittoria de |title=Buttons & Sundries |last2=Minici |first2=Isabellla Zotti |publisher=Zanfi |year=1990 |isbn=0896762017 |location=Italy |language=en}}{{RP|page=14}} Because their owners might want to move these valuable buttons from one piece of clothing to another, they often were not sewn on with thread. Rather, their shanks were pushed through the fabric and were held in place with metal strips inserted through the shank.{{Cite book |last=Whittemore |first=Joyce |title=The Book of Buttons |publisher=DK |year=1992 |isbn=1564580288 |location=New York |language=en}}{{Rp|page=8}} At the time, wood, bone, brass and pewter made it possible for less expensive buttons to be produced.{{Rp|page=8}}

File:Jerkin MET 26.196 d2.jpg

Fabric-covered buttons and embroidered buttons because popular in Europe in the 17th century. These were often small, and served a decorative, rather than functional, purpose. The early 17th century short jerkin, wide breeches and cloak may have been adorned by dozens of buttons, and with so many, they needed to be lightweight.{{Rp|page=xx}} The mid century French-originated knee-length coat, the justaucorps, had buttons from the neck to the knee, buttoned sleeve cuffs, and buttoned flaps on the pockets.{{Rp|pages=24-25}} {{Cite web |title=1670-1679 {{!}} Fashion History Timeline |url=https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1670-1679/ |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu |language=en-US}}

French law, concerned with protecting the silk industry in Paris and Lyons, required buttons to be covered in silk. On the other hand, England did not allow fabric buttons in the late 1600s and early 1700s.{{Rp|page=9}} Tailors could make fabric-covered buttons with leftover fabric, which threatened the guild of button makers.

Since at least the seventeenth century, when box-like metal buttons were constructed especially for the purpose,{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/hg/index.ssf/2008/06/marv_bondarowicz_the_oregonian_3.html|title=For a collector hooked on history, every button tells a story|last=Dahl|first=Liz|date=June 5, 2008|work=The Oregonian: Homes & Gardens|publisher=Oregon Live LLC|access-date=11 March 2010|location=Oregon, USA}} buttons have been one of the items in which drug smugglers have attempted to hide and transport illegal substances. At least one modern smuggler has tried to use this method.{{cite web|url=http://www.customs.gov.au/site/Heroinconcealedindressbuttons.asp|title=heroin concealed in dress buttons|last=Australian Government|date=12 November 2009 |publisher=Customs and Border Protection Communication and Media|access-date=11 March 2010|location=Australia}}

Also making use of the storage possibilities of metal buttons, during the World Wars, British and U.S. military locket buttons were made, containing miniature working compasses.{{harv|Luscomb|2003|p=126}}

File:Button stamping machine, Henri Jamorski Button Factory, Paris, France, 1919 (28206559760).jpg

{{see also|List of raw materials used in button-making}}

Because buttons have been manufactured from almost every possible material, both natural and synthetic, and combinations of both, the history of the material composition of buttons reflects the timeline of materials technology.

Buttons can be individually crafted by artisans, craftspeople or artists from raw materials or found objects (for example fossils), or a combination of both. Alternatively, they can be the product of low-tech cottage industry or be mass-produced in high-tech factories. Buttons made by artists are art objects, known to button collectors as "studio buttons" (or simply "studios", from studio craft).{{cite web |url=http://buttoncountry.com/studios.htm |title=Studios (Section 23-11) |last=Peach State Button Club |year=2010 |work=Button Country |publisher=Peach State Button Club |access-date=11 June 2010 |location=Georgia, USA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606190304/http://www.buttoncountry.com/studios.htm |archive-date=6 June 2010 }}

In 1918, the US government made an extensive survey of the international button market, which listed buttons made of vegetable ivory, metal, glass, galalith, silk, linen, cotton-covered crochet, lead, snap fasteners, enamel, rubber, buckhorn, wood, horn, bone, leather, paper, pressed cardboard, mother-of-pearl, celluloid, porcelain, composition, tin, zinc, xylonite, stone, cloth-covered wooden forms, and papier-mâché. Vegetable ivory was said to be the most popular for suits and shirts, and papier-mâché far and away the commonest sort of shoe button.The United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Paper and Stationery Trade of the World, Government Printing Office, 1918

Nowadays, hard plastic, seashell, metals, and wood are the most common materials used in button-making; the others tending to be used only in premium or antique apparel, or found in collections.

Over 60% of the world's button supply comes from Qiaotou, Yongjia County, China.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/welcome-to-button-town-china/|title=A look at China's "Button Town"|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=8 October 2015 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5686805|title=Chinese 'Button Town' Struggles with Success|website=NPR.org}}

Historically, fashions in buttons have also reflected trends in applied aesthetics and the applied visual arts, with buttonmakers using techniques from jewellery making, ceramics, sculpture, painting, printmaking, metalworking, weaving and others. The following are just a few of the construction and decoration techniques that have been used in button-making:

{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|

• Arita porcelain
• Cloisonné
• Daguerreotype{{harv|Luscomb|2003|p=53}}
• Electroplating
• Embroidery{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127202/mans-suit-coat/|title=Man's suit, Coat and breeches|last=Victoria and Albert museum|author-link=Victoria and Albert Museum|publisher=V&A Images|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London, UK|archive-date=24 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824194648/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127202/mans-suit-coat/|url-status=dead}}
• Filigree{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O140427/elements-of-a/|title=Elements of a German filigree button, made ca 1880|last=Victoria and Albert Museum|work=V&A Jewellery collection|year=1880 |publisher=V&A Images|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London, UK}}
• Intaglio{{harv|Luscomb|2003|p=104}}
• Lacquerware
• Lithography{{harv|Luscomb|2003|pp=123–124}}
• Metallizing
• Metal openwork{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O22588/jacket-from-bridegrooms/|title=Jacket from bridegroom's outfit|last=Victoria & Albert museum|work=V&A Jewellery collection|year=1992 |publisher=V&A Images|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London, UK}}
• Opus interassile
• Passementerie{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127140/coat/|title=Coat - Victoria & Albert museum|publisher=V&A Images|access-date=10 March 2010|location=London, UK}}
• Portrait miniatures
• Satsuma ware
• Vitreous enamel

}}

File:Plastic & fabric buttons showing holes & shank.jpg*Flat or sew-through buttons have holes through which thread is sewn to attach the button.{{cite book |author= |editor-last=Colton |editor-first=Virginia |title=Complete Guide to Sewing |publisher=Reader's Digest |page=352 |date=1978 |isbn=0-89577-026-1}} Flat buttons may be attached by sewing machine rather than by hand and may be used with heavy fabrics by working a thread shank to extend the height of the button above the fabric.

File:Shank_buttons.jpg

• Shank buttons have a hollow protrusion on the back through which thread is sewn to attach the button.{{cite web|url=http://buttoncountry.com/shanks.htm|title=Back Types/Shanks (23-3)|last=Button Country|year=2010|publisher=Peach State Button Club|access-date=11 March 2010|location=GA, USA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617004046/http://www.buttoncountry.com/shanks.htm|archive-date=17 June 2010|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} Button shanks may be made from a separate piece of the same or a different substance as the button itself, and added to the back of the button, or be carved or moulded directly onto the back of the button, in which latter case the button is referred to by collectors as having a 'self-shank'.

File:Durchsteckknoepfe.jpg

File:ShirtStuds.jpg

• Stud buttons (also push-through buttons or just studs) are composed from an actual button, connected to a second, button-like element by a narrow metal or plastic bar. Pushed through two opposing holes within what is meant to be kept together, the actual button and its counterpart press it together, keeping it joined. Popular examples of such buttons are shirt studs and cufflinks.
• Snap fasteners (also pressure buttons or press studs) are metal (usually brass) round discs pinched through the fabric. They are often found on clothing, in particular on denim pieces such as pants and jackets. They are more securely fastened to the material. As they rely on a metal rivet attached securely to the fabric, pressure buttons are difficult to remove without compromising the fabric's integrity. They are made of two couples: the male stud couple and the female stud couple. Each couple has one front (or top) and rear (or bottom) side (the fabric goes in the middle).

File:Chambers 1908 Toggle.png

• {{anchor|toggle}}Toggles are stick-like, with a cord attached at the center. They are passed endways through a hole and then rotated sideways.
• Magnetic buttons, as the name implies, are buttons that attach to each other by being magnetic.{{Cite patent|number=US2397931A|title=Magnetic button|gdate=1946-04-09|invent1=Robert|inventor1-first=Ellis|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2397931/en}} The buttons can be attached either by sewing or snapping them into the fabric.

• Covered buttons are fabric-covered forms with a separate back piece that secures the fabric over the knob.
• Mandarin buttons or frogs are knobs made of intricately knotted strings. Mandarin buttons are a key element in Mandarin dress (Qi Pao and cheongsam in Chinese), where they are closed with loops. Pairs of mandarin buttons worn as cuff links are called silk knots.
• Worked or cloth buttons are created by embroidering or crocheting tight stitches (usually with linen thread) over a knob or ring called a form. Dorset buttons, handmade from the 17th century to 1750, and Death head buttons are of this type.

The size of the button depends on its use. Shirt buttons are generally small, and spaced close together, whereas coat buttons are larger and spaced further apart. Buttons are commonly measured in lignes (also called lines and abbreviated L), with 40 lines equal to 1 inch.{{cite web |title=An Easy Guide to Button Measurement and Sizing |url=https://www.sunmeibutton.com/button-measurement/ |date=2019-06-19 |publisher=Sun Mei Button Enterprise Co., Ltd.}} For example, some standard sizes of buttons are 16 lignes (10.16 mm, standard buttons of men's shirts) and 32 lignes (20.32 mm, typical button on suit jackets).{{Citation |title=Standard Buttons |date=1990 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-107250-6.50007-3 |work=Brain Browser |pages=86–90 |access-date=2023-11-18 |publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-107250-6.50007-3 |isbn=978-0-12-107250-6 |url-access=subscription }}

File:Peter Carl Fabergé - Buttons - 1966.490 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg

Some museums and art galleries hold culturally, historically, politically, and/or artistically significant buttons in their collections. The Victoria and Albert Museum has many buttons,{{Cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?offset=0&limit=15&narrow=&q=button&commit=Search&quality=2&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch=&listing_type=image&orderby=0&order=0|title=Your Search Results | Search the Collections | Victoria and Albert Museum|website=collections.vam.ac.uk}} particularly in its jewellery collection, as does the Smithsonian Institution.[http://americanindian.si.edu/searchcollections/results.aspx?objtype=Sewing+Tools+and+Equipment:+Notions&objid=Button American Indian Buttons made with ivory, whalebone and ink] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221042738/https://americanindian.si.edu/searchcollections/results.aspx?objtype=Sewing+Tools+and+Equipment:+Notions&objid=Button |date=2018-12-21 }} at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.[http://www.smithsonianlegacies.si.edu/objectdescription.cfm?ID=50 Domestic button collection, circa 1935], from Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.[http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=63886&img=1&pg=1 Uniform buttons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723123107/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=63886&img=1&pg=1 |date=2011-07-23 }} of the United States Postal Service at 'Arago', the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.{{Cite web|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/button-3704|title=Button | Smithsonian American Art Museum|website=americanart.si.edu}}

Hammond Turner & Sons, a button-making company in Birmingham, hosts an online museum with an image gallery and historical button-related articles,{{Cite web|url=https://hammond-turner.com/|title=Hammond-Turner.com – Online Button Museum|website=hammond-turner.com}} including an 1852 article on button-making by Charles Dickens.{{Cite web|url=https://hammond-turner.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=9|title=Hammond-Turner.com – Online Button Museum|website=hammond-turner.com}} In the US, large button collections are on public display at the Waterbury Button Museum of Waterbury, Connecticut,{{Cite web|url=https://www.mattmuseum.org/|title=Mattatuck Museum | Art Exhibitions & Educational Programs in CT|website=Mattatuck Museum}} the Keep Homestead Museum of Monson, Massachusetts,{{Cite web|url=https://keephomesteadmuseum.org/|title=Keep Homestead Museum|website=keephomesteadmuseum.org}} which also hosts an extensive button archive,{{Cite web|url=https://keephomesteadmuseum.org/button.htm|title=Keep Homestead Museum - Button Collection|website=keephomesteadmuseum.org|access-date=2020-04-30|archive-date=2020-01-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200119093354/https://keephomesteadmuseum.org/button.htm|url-status=dead}} and in Gurnee, Illinois, at The Button Room.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thebuttonroom.org/|title=The Button Room|access-date=2012-02-28|archive-date=2020-11-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127110009/http://thebuttonroom.org/|url-status=dead}}

{{Gallery

|File:ButtonholeClamshells.jpg|Clam shells used for making buttons

|File:Satsuma irises f&b.jpg|Hand-painted Satsuma ware self-shank button

|File:Merfamily wedgewood cut steel f&b smaller back 2.jpg|Wedgwood button with Boulton cut steels, depicting a mermaid & family, England, {{Circa|1760}}. Diameter just over 32 mm (1{{fraction|1|4}}")|Livery MET 1983.241.3b d2.jpg|Thread Covered buttons}}

Classic clothing has the button on the left side for women and on the right side for men. The reasons for this are unclear, but the choice for men's clothing is usually attributed to the need to draw weapons from the left to right; the weapon would then not catch on opening of the clothing. For women's clothing the common reason given is that in times when upper-class women's clothing was quite elaborate, servants were needed for dressing, and the left placement of the buttons was more convenient for right-handed maids.{{cite magazine

|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/the-curious-case-of-men-and-womens-buttons/388844/

|title=The Curious Case of Men and Women's Buttons|magazine=The Atlantic

|quote=On the left for the ladies and on the right for the gents

|author=Megan Garber |date=March 27, 2015 |access-date=November 6, 2022}}{{cite magazine |magazine=Smithsonian

|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/heres-why-mens-and-womens-clothes-button-opposite-sides-1-180957361/#:~:text=Are%20the%20buttons%20on%20your,up%20on%20the%20right%20side.

|title=Here's Why Men's and Women's Clothes Button on Opposite Sides

|author=Danny Lewis |date=November 23, 2015 |access-date=November 6, 2022}}{{cite magazine |magazine=Live Science

|url=https://www.livescience.com/32681-why-are-mens-and-womens-buttons-on-opposite-sides.html

|title=Why Are Men's and Women's Buttons on Opposite Sides?

|author=Benjamin Radford |date=July 6, 2010 |access-date=November 6, 2022}} Some Jews reverse this, following statements in the Torah that favor dressing first on the right side, or from the Kabbalah, in which the right side denotes goodness.{{cite book

|title=The Broken Magen David |page=116

|author=Chaya Korb Hubner |year=1989 |quote=men button right on left .. Tznius}}{{cite news |newspaper=The Forward

|url=https://forward.com/life/419198/why-do-hasidic-men-button-their-shirts-the-wrong-way/

|title=Why Do Hasidic Men Button Their Shirts The Wrong Way?

|quote=Just like women, most Hasidic men button their jackets, shirts, and rekels (long frock coat) with the right side over the left

|author=Danna Lorch |date=February 13, 2019 |access-date=November 6, 2022}}{{cite news |newspaper=The Times of Israel

|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-ultra-orthodox-fashion-you-can-tell-a-lot-about-a-person-by-his-button-holes/

|title=In ultra-Orthodox fashion, you can tell a lot about a person by his button holdes

|author=Madison Margolin |date=February 12, 2017 |access-date=November 6, 2022}}{{citation

|url=https://jewinthecity.com/2021/06/whats-the-difference-between-hasidic-vs-orthodox-jews/

|title=What's the Difference Between Hasidic vs. Orthodox Jews?

|date=June 14, 2021}}

The mainly American tradition of politically significant clothing buttons appears to have begun with the first presidential inauguration of George Washington in 1789. Known to collectors as "Washington Inaugurals",{{cite web|url=http://kirkmitchell.tripod.com/CobbGW/index.html |title=J. Harold Cobb's George Washington Inaugural Button Collection |last=Cobb |first=J. Harold |author2=Kirk Mitchell |date=Feb 2, 2005|publisher=Kirk Mitchell|access-date=13 March 2010|location=USA}} they were made of copper, brass or Sheffield plate, in large sizes for coats and smaller sizes for breeches.{{harv|Luscomb|2003|pp=214–218}} Made in twenty-two patterns and hand-stamped, they are now extremely valuable cultural artifacts.

Between about 1840 and 1916, clothing buttons were used in American political campaigns, and still exist in collections today. Initially, these buttons were predominantly made of brass (though horn and rubber buttons with stamped or moulded designs also exist) and had loop shanks. Around 1860 the badge or pin-back style of construction, which replaced the shanks with long pins, probably for use on lapels and ties, began to appear.{{harv|Luscomb|2003|pp=33–34}}

One common practice that survived until recent times on campaign buttons and badges was to include the image of George Washington with that of the candidate in question.

Some of the most famous campaign buttons are those made for Abraham Lincoln. Memorial buttons commemorating Lincoln's inaugurations and other life events, including his birth and death, were also made, and are also considered highly collectible.{{harv|Luscomb|2003|pp=119–120}}

• Koumpounophobia, fear of buttons

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|last=Luscomb|first=Sally C.|title=The Collector's Encyclopedia of Buttons|publisher=Schiffer|location=Atglen, PA|year=2003|edition=5th|isbn=0-7643-1815-2|lccn=2003101645}}

• {{cite book|last=Bunch|first=Bryan|title=The History of Science and Technology|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston, MA|year=2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780618221233/page/784 784]|isbn=978-0-618-22123-3|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780618221233/page/784}}
• {{cite book|last=Edwards|first= Nina (2012)| title= On the Button: The Significance of an Ordinary Item | publisher= I. B. Tauris|location=London, UK| year= 2012| isbn=978-1-84885-584-7|id= {{ASIN|1848855842|country=uk}}}}
• {{cite book|last=Kohler|first=Carl|title=A History of Costume|publisher=Dover|location=USA|year=1963|page=464|isbn=978-0-486-21030-8|url=http://store.doverpublications.com/0486210308.html}}
• {{cite book|last=Osborne|first=Peggy A.|title=Button, button : identification and price guide|publisher=Schiffer|location=Atglen, PA|year=1997|page=167|isbn=0-7643-0082-2 |lccn=92063104}}
• {{cite book|last=Peacock|first=Primrose|others=Rosemary Godsell (illus.)|title=Discovering old buttons|publisher=Shire Publications|location=Aylesbury, UK|year=1978|series=Discovering series; no. 213|page=[https://archive.org/details/discoveringoldbu00peac_0/page/76 76]|isbn=0-85263-445-5|url=https://archive.org/details/discoveringoldbu00peac_0/page/76}}
• {{cite book|last=Wisniewski|first=Debra J.|others=Charley Lynch|title=Antique & collectible buttons : identification & values|publisher=Collector Books|location=Paducah, KY|year=1997|page=168|isbn=0-89145-711-9|lccn=97122120}}

{{Commons category|Buttons (clothing)}}

• [http://www.onefivenine.info/buttons.html Button-making in Birmingham, England in the 1800s]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100701030355/http://www.buttoncountry.com/patents.htm Scans of original 1830–1940 US patents for buttons & related tools & machinery]
• [http://www.buttonmuseum.org/ Online collection of historical buttons at the Button Museum]

{{Sewing}}

{{Clothing materials and parts}}

{{decorative arts}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Fashion accessories

Category:History of clothing

Category:Parts of clothing

Category:Sewing

Category:Textile closures

Category:Types of jewellery

Category:Indian inventions