Souvenir nation
Subtitle: Napoleon's napkin, Theodore Roosevelt's can opener, FDR's birthday cake, and other relics, keepsakes, and curios from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
By: William L. Bird, Jr
Contributors: Bird, William L.
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 175
ISBN-13: 9781616891350
Subjects: Collectibles; Catalogs; Americana; Material culture; Souvenirs (Keepsakes); National Museum of American History (U.S.).; National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Political History; History
Description: Buried within the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History exists an astonishing group of historical relics from the pre-Revolutionary War era to the present day, many of which have never been on display. Donated to the museum by generations of souvenir collectors, these ordinary objects of extraordinary circumstance all have amazing tales to tell about their roles in American history. Souvenir Nation presents fifty of the museum's most eccentric objects - from a chunk broken off Plymouth Rock to the magnifying glass used to examine the infamous hanging chads of the 2000 presidential election. Smithsonian curator William L. Bird, Jr., regales us with the story of each artifact's origins and the quirks of fate that brought it to the Smithsonian. Strikingly photographed, these curious objects form a uniquely American narrative: a cabinet of curiosities representing our nation's most fascinating individuals, both celebrated and obscure, and the keepsakes they left behind.
Notes: The objects described and pictured here are from the collection of the Division of  Political History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: The cause of freedom; title: The immortal Washington; title: Industrial revolutions; title: Foreign guests; title: Diplomacy and war; title: Presidential pieces.