Iowa Button Industry Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Automatic Button Company.
label: Creator
content: American Pearl Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Claus Schmarje Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Barry Manufacturing Company.
label: Creator
content: Schmarje, Claus
label: Creator
content: Sessler, Mary Alice
label: Creator
content: U.S. Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Weber and Sons Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Perkins Freshwater Pearl Products, Inc.
label: Creator
content: McKee Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Schmarje, Clarence
label: Creator
content: Ronda Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Hawkeye Pearl Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Hahn, Bernard
label: Creator
content: J & K Button Company
label: Creator
content: Iowa Button Company.
place: label: Place
content: Muscatine (Iowa)
label: Place
content: Iowa -- Button industry
topic: label: Topic
content: Wages -- Button industry
label: Topic
content: Buttons
label: Topic
content: Mollusks
label: Topic
content: Mother-of-pearl
label: Topic
content: Crustacea
label: Topic
content: Pearl button industry -- Iowa
label: Topic
content: Plastics
label: Topic
content: Button industry workers
label: Topic
content: Button industry -- Iowa
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Mary Alice Sessler, Weber and Sons Button Company, Bernard Hahn.,J & K Button Company (November 19, 1993); and Clarence Schmarje (November 19, 1993).
creator: label: Creator
content: Automatic Button Company.
label: Creator
content: American Pearl Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Claus Schmarje Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Barry Manufacturing Company.
label: Creator
content: Schmarje, Claus
label: Creator
content: Sessler, Mary Alice
label: Creator
content: U.S. Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Weber and Sons Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Perkins Freshwater Pearl Products, Inc.
label: Creator
content: McKee Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Schmarje, Clarence
label: Creator
content: Ronda Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Hawkeye Pearl Button Company.
label: Creator
content: Hahn, Bernard
label: Creator
content: J & K Button Company
label: Creator
content: Iowa Button Company.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Iowa Button Industry Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents the manufacture of both freshwater pearl and plastic buttons in Muscatine, Iowa, including at least 12 different companies from primarily 1925 to the 1960s.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Muscatine, Iowa was the primary American manufacturing source for mother-of-pearl buttons made from Mississippi River shellfish, 1890s-1960s. During the industry's peak, there were some 53 small firms making pearl buttons in the area. In the 1930s some of these firms began experimenting with plastics as a substitute for the dwindling supply of shellfish. Several firms successfully converted to plastics and the city remains a center for plastic button manufacture today.

This unique industry drew upon natural resources to provide employment for almost an entire city (Muscatine is still known as the "Pearl City"). The mass production of low-cost buttons was crucial to the success of ready-made clothing and the development of the modern clothing trade. The industry was also involved in early work by American manufacturers to develop synthetic materials to replace increasingly scarce natural resources.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 13 Cubic feet (55 boxes, 4 map folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1898 - 1993
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0504
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Trade literature
label: Type
content: Videotapes
label: Type
content: Commercial catalogs
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Price lists
label: Type
content: Account books
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into 14 series. 

Series 1: Historical and Background Materials, 1898-1990

Series 2: American Pearl Button Company, undated

Series 3: Automatic Button Company, 1937, 1965

Series 4: Barry Manufacturing Company/The Barry Company, 1890-1980

Series 5: Hawkeye Pearl Button Company, 1914-1968

Series 6: Iowa Pearl Button Company, 1955

Series 7: J & K Button Company, 1993

Series 8: McKee Button Company, 1988

Series 9: Muscatine Pearl Works, 1944-1947

Series 10: Perkins Freshwater Pearl Products, 1944-1966

Series 11: =Rhonda Button Company, 1946-1968

Series 12: Claus Schmarje Button Works, 1914-1941

Series 13: US Button Company, 1915

Series 14: Weber and Sons Button Company, 1900-1976
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Craig Orr and Alison Oswald.  Finding aid encoded by Alison Oswald, 2017.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Trade literature -- 1920-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Videotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Commercial catalogs -- 1920-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Price lists
label: Genre/Form
content: Account books -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Collection documents the manufacture of both freshwater pearl and plastic buttons in Muscatine, Iowa, including at least 12 different companies. The records, primarily 1925-1960s, with a few items from 1993 production, include corporate financial records, wage and employment statistics, sales and purchase data, photographs, correspondence, catalogs, and publications. Some records document the Barry Manufacturing Company, a machine tool company which specialized in designing and producing the unique machinery needed for this industry; also background material that places the corporate records into the historical context of the button industry in Muscatine.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Industry on Parade (NMAH.AC.0507)

Reel #215, Procesing shell into button blanks, 1954. B. Schwanda and Sons, Denton, Maryland.