HUDSON - Steve Peterson is a political junkie. He has a social sciences degree and is quick to admit he likes to follow politics as much as the next guy. On occasion, he's even dished his opinion on local talk radio. | Photo gallery | VIDEO: Quick look at museum's collection

But when people talk about Peterson being a political junkie, they're referring to his button collection.

His rural Hudson home holds boxes upon boxes of political pins, or "buttons," as they're better known. Mixed in with roughly 500 buttons, he's got a few other items - a George H. Bush-labeled cigar, a Jimmy Carter pocket knife, a Paul Simon ice scraper.

This week, with Barack Obama's inauguration, he expects the collection to grow.

"I'm sure somebody who goes out to D.C. will bring me a button from the inauguration. At least, I hope so," said Peterson. His collection includes inaugural items from Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and pins from John F. Kennedy.

Peterson, who works at Illinois Wesleyan University's physical plant, has exhibited some of his collection in Ames Library.

Peterson credits his grandmother, Virda McDonald of Mount Vernon, for his hobby. Shortly after her 1980 death, Peterson inherited a button collection that she'd started half a century earlier.

Apparently, a friend delivered the seamstress an actual clothes-button collection. From there, people began to give her political buttons.

But Peterson's collection is more than that; his wife, Laurie, even created a political-themed guest bathroom. Glass wall cases display political pins, a 1988 Democratic Convention poster from Atlanta, and a framed letter sent to Peterson's grandfather, signed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Turns out he'd written a letter on behalf of his wife, seeking more buttons for her collection.

"He didn't get any buttons, but he got this signed letter, and that's even better," said Peterson.

Peterson's favorite inaugural item is a Harry Truman button that Peterson purchased from an antique dealer in New Orleans' French Quarter. But his favorite political piece is a press pass to the 1944 Republican Convention in Chicago.

"My great-grandfather was a newspaperman, I guess that's why," he said.

People collect campaign buttons because "it is part of our material culture," said Susan Hartzold of the McLean County Museum of History. "That's one way we express ourselves as humans."

The museum has its own extensive collection of political materials. The bulk is hundreds of pins; the most frequent name, not surprisingly, is Stevenson.

Central Illinois' Adlai Stevenson I was vice president under Grover Cleveland. His grandson, Adlai E. Stevenson II, ran unsuccessfully for president twice in the 1950s.

A second-floor display, created by museum volunteer Loiise Hebert, features items ranging from a cigarette package featuring Adlai E. Stevenson's face, to a sequined donkey pin, and a Mad magazine satirizing campaigns.

Some 1960s and 1970s pins are included in the museum's Vietnam-era exhibit. The museum also has a satin 18-inch banner with a profile of President Benjamin Harrison; a cotton bandana of President Theodore Roosevelt; and an 1892 top hat with a cardboard insert campaigning for Grover Cleveland and his running mate, Adlai Stevenson I.

The item was a gift from Adlai E. Stevenson III, who lives in the Chicago area.

Most of the museum's political items are donated by local residents, said Hartzold, who is curator of collections and exhibits.

The museum already is stocking up on Obama material, with napkins from a March 16, 2004, fund-raiser in Bloomington; several items from his announcements in Springfield; and even some Chicago footage from the Nov. 3 coverage of his historic election.