Grandmother's Buttons Button Museum

[caption id="attachment_407" align="alignleft" width="298" caption="18th Century Buttons, including one worn to George Washington's inauguration"][/caption]

Button, Button, Who's got the button? Did you ever play that game as a child?

Well, at Grandmother's Buttons, we definitely have the button – we even have a very rare George Washington inaugural button, worn by a delegate to our first president's inauguration. And we don't have it hidden in a safe somewhere – we've got it displayed in our Button Museum.

Yes, of course, there's a Button Museum at Grandmother's Buttons. After we purchased our historic town's original bank building in St. Francisville, Louisiana, we created the Button Museum. Housed in the old bank vault, the Museum may well be one of the smallest and most uniquely placed museums in the country, inhabiting a tiny 10-foot square space (buttons are quite small as well, you know. . .).

The Museum was an immediate hit upon opening, and it's been featured in Victoria, Country Home, Southern Living and Southern Accent magazines. It's eight cases display thousands of antique fasteners dated from the 1760's through the 1930's.

[caption id="attachment_409" align="alignright" width="299" caption="The quote on the wall is Charles Dickens on Victorian buttons, “There is surely something satisfying in seeing the smallest thing done so thoroughly.”"][/caption]

The case holding the George Washington button contains other 18^th century buttons – a time when buttons were only worn by men. From a sought-after Wedgwood to an unusual “habitat” button (which captured bits of seaweed and shell under glass), this case demonstrates the ends to which men would go to decorate themselves.

Late nineteenth century buttons grace five cases, depicting subjects as diverse as Shakespeare's Juliett, Little Red Riding Hood, a Roman warrior, a giraffe and a Balmoral castle. Button design exploded during that time, and women, finally given the opportunity to use them, decorated their opulent gowns with every imaginable design available.

[caption id="attachment_411" align="alignleft" width="296" caption="The botton boxes and tins that started it all, with hundreds of historic buttons and photos"][/caption]

Then we have our nostalgia case. The button boxes belonged to our owner, Susan Davis' mother and grandmother - those would be the buttons that started it all at Grandmother's Buttons. There's also a World War I soldier's locket button, a Victorian “charm string”, a set of 19^th century French button molds – we love the variety and history contained in this case. 

And finally, we have our 20^th century buttons. When Bakelite was invented in 1907, the bold colors and designs available created another explosion of button design, this time with a veritable farmers market of celluloid fruits, vegetables and flowers, as well as roosters, lobsters, fish, pencils. After surviving the Depression and World Wars I and II, novelty buttons were all the rage. These buttons now often command higher prices than the older Victorian buttons.

Obviously we think buttons are great fun, and they have a special place in history. Drop by and visit the Button Museum – it just might feel like an afternoon spent with your grandmother. And what could be better?

[caption id="attachment_414" align="aligncenter" width="296" caption="Early 20th Century Buttons - Colorful and Whimsical!"][/caption]