Booklet, "Harrison Melodies", 1840
date: label: Date made
content: 1840
name: label: associated person
content: Harrison, William
notes: label: Description
content: Nineteenth-century political campaigns made frequent use of songbooks to spread positive images of their candidate and party, or mocking tunes poking fun at opponents. In 1840, William Henry Harrison’s Whig party circulated songsters honoring Harrison’s military experience, western background, and common touch, while mocking his opponent, Martin Van Buren as elite, corrupt, and responsible for the 1837 depression. Many songs included personal, mean-spirited attacks, often deriding Martin Van Buren – who was 5’6” tall and the second shortest president in U.S. history – as “Little Van, the used-up man.”
topic: label: used
content: Political Campaigns
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Campaign Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
label: Exhibition
content: American Democracy
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Ralph E. Becker Collection of Political Americana
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.227739.1840.K04
label: catalog number
content: 227739.1840.K04
label: accession number
content: 227739
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Book
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: white, black (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 in x 3 1/2 in; 15.24 cm x 8.89 cm