'Get Out the Vote!'exhibit traces history of presidential campaigns

This "I Like Ike" dress (1952) is among the many items of presidential campaign memorabilia now on view in the Kroch Library exhibition, "Get Out the Vote! Campaigning for the U.S. Presidency." Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections

On Nov. 2, American citizens will exercise a fundamental privilege granted by the U.S. Constitution. By the time ballots are cast on that day, the presidential candidates will have spent months campaigning to win over the voting public. "Get Out the Vote! Campaigning for the U.S. Presidency," an exhibition now on view at Cornell Library, traces the lively history of American presidential campaigns.

Political campaigns and their strategies have evolved considerably since the first contested presidential election in 1796. "Get Out the Vote!" examines the process of campaigning and electioneering through partisan objects, symbols and ballots. The exhibition features 10 key elections -- including the Civil War election, the famous three-way race of 1912, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's campaign for a third term in 1940 and the Nixon/Kennedy contest (the first in which television played a pivotal role) -- and highlights recurring campaign themes. Bandannas, mugs, pipes, walking sticks and even bars of soap demonstrate how campaigns have used imagery to idealize the candidates, to fashion party mascots and to urge Americans to vote.

Cornell Library also is sponsoring a series of events in conjunction with the exhibition, including a panel discussion today, Oct. 28, at 4:30 p.m., titled "Representation, Democracy and Electoral Machinery: Four Years After the Florida Vote." See sidebar, this page, for details.

Most of the items featured in the exhibition were collected by Susan H. Douglas and given to the library in 1957. The Douglas collection has since been augmented by several other groups of election materials, which together form the Cornell University Political Americana Collection.

Two years ago, the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded Cornell a National Leadership Grant to catalog, conserve, and digitize its Political Americana Collection (go to http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/political). This exhibition showcases many of the items that were treated and digitized as part of the grant, and celebrates the preservation of this remarkable array of Americana.

"Get Out the Vote!" is on view in the Hirshland Gallery in Kroch Library through Jan. 21, 2005. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. An online version of the exhibition is available at http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/vote. For more information, call 255-3530 or email rareref@cornell.edu.

Election-related events sponsored by Cornell Library

Thursday, Oct. 28, 4:30-6 p.m.

Panel Discussion: "Representation, Democracy and Electoral Machinery: Four Years After the Florida Vote." Carl A. Kroch Library, Lecture Room, Level 2B. Reception to follow, 6-7 p.m. Moderator: Stephen Hilgartner (Science & Technology Studies). Read the story.

Talks and participants: "Failing to Count All the Votes," Walter Mebane (Government); "Administrative Objectivity in Elections," Michael Lynch (Science & Technology Studies); "A Measured Democracy? Voters and Voter Intent in America," Sheila Jasanoff, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Sponsored by Cornell Library and the Department of Science & Technology Studies, this forum marks the transfer of the Voting Technology Archive to the library. The archive is a special collection on the technological aspects of the contested 2000 U.S. presidential vote. Created under a National Science Foundation grant to Cornell and Harvard, the archive serves as a resource for scholarly work, now and in the future. Selected artifacts and documents from the archive will be on display in Kroch Library during the panel discussion and reception.

Friday, Oct. 29, 2-4 p.m.

Exhibition opening reception for "Get Out the Vote! Campaigning for the U.S. Presidency." Carl A. Kroch Library, Hirshland Exhibition Gallery.

Saturday, Oct. 30, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Gallery Tour: "Get Out the Vote! Campaigning for the U.S. Presidency." Tour the exhibition with curator Susette Newberry.

Monday, Nov. 1, 6-8 p.m.

Winners & Losers: Election Eve Trivia. Students: Join us for a trivia tournament! Questions will test your knowledge of presidential and election trivia. Light snacks provided. Olin Library, Libe Café.