Curators of political history from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History are at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, collecting items from clothing to plates that will tell the story of the 2024 presidential election. American Politics editor Naomi Schalit interviewed them last week, before they left Washington, D.C., for Wisconsin, about what they’re trying to collect and why. Now that they’re at the event, curators Claire Jerry and Jon Grinspan report back to Schalit on their collecting progress. It turns out that a clear plastic bag handed out to attendees could tell the bigger story of the convention, which began just days after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Schalit: What do you see and what do you have?

Grinspan: There’s not a lot of handcrafted stuff because the security perimeter is so tight. There’s not a lot of the hats, the posters that we normally see. So there’s less collectible items overall.

Jerry: All the delegates appear to have been given clear plastic bags by their delegations. Some simply say “RNC.” Others have a state name. These were clearly designed long before Saturday’s events. So the clear plastic is a long-standing security measure.

Grinspan: Sometimes it’s frustrating not to come home with a lot of stuff. Because of the security concerns stemming from the assassination attempt, people have brought fewer items. At the same time, because this convention is so united behind Trump, there’s less need to use signs and other materials to object to or show support for other candidates. The absence of items can say as much about a moment in time as an abundance of them.

We’re seeing a lot of MAGA hats with different themes on them. We’ve got one that was from an African-American pastor in Virginia that said “MAGA BLACK.” There’s a lot of “45/47” hats, “ULTRA MAGA” hats, all that stuff that’s been given out.

We give out a lot of business cards. Often you meet people and you give them a business card because they have a cool object. You don’t know if you’re going to get it, then maybe four weeks later someone emails you, and that’s how we get a lot of the objects in our collection. There are things that we don’t have in our hands now, but we hope to be able to collect them.

What things do you currently have on hand?

Jerry: We’ve gotten all the signs that have been handed out to delegates on the floor, and we’ve been able to keep track of when they’ve been handed out, with an eye toward the speaker event officials hoping that people would hold them up. So for example, the “Back the Blue” signs that were handed out last night were handed out right before a couple of speakers who were going to speak specifically on law enforcement issues, or were law enforcement people themselves.

These boards are interesting because they tell a lot about how the conference itself will be organised.

So you have placards and signs that the organizers hope will be used if someone on stage says something that they know is going to happen because it’s in the script?

Jerry: That’s very, very typical of a convention. So, at this particular convention, like many others, they have a theme every night. The theme of the first night was wealth and the economy of the country. And so the signs said, “MAKE AMERICA WEALTHY AGAIN!” The theme of the next night was safety. So the sign was, “MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!”

One interesting thing: Convention volunteers go around and put signs on chairs. So when delegates or the public arrive, there are signs available. When I first got my chair yesterday, the signs on the chairs around me were the same “TRUMP” signs from the day before, in red, white, and blue. And before yesterday’s events began, the “TRUMP/VANCE” signs had arrived. Sign teams went around and picked up the signs that only had one name on them and replaced them with signs with two names.

Are there any interesting things you’ve seen that don’t fit into the collection?

Grinspan: We literally have a physical collection of campaign ephemera. We think about what we can fit, what we can store, what we can keep for 100, 200 years. So we want to take home every shirt and every hat, but at some point the question becomes: What is the additional value of preserving this object over time compared to something else?

Jerry: I’ve seen some garments from a distance – things that sparkle or shine. I’m hoping to get closer to those delegates today to hear what their story is and how attached they are to the clothes, whether they’re willing to share it. Sometimes we have to look at the materials that things are made of, because there are things that we just know won’t last or, sometimes with clothes that are made for entertainment purposes, the material itself can be harmful to things around it because it gives off gases.

Grinspan: There’s a sign from the first day of the protest that says, “STOP TRUMP AND RACIST REPUBLICANS.” As I mentioned earlier, this “MAGA BLACK” hat that was made by an African-American pastor in Virginia tells an important story. And then there’s a yarmulke—a skullcap that some Jewish men wear—that says “TRUMP” on the front and “Republican Jewish Coalition” on the back. A yarmulke just like the one that was worn by a speaker last night.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization that brings you facts and reliable analysis to help you understand our complex world. It was written by: Claire Jerry, Smithsonian Institute and Jon Grinspan, Smithsonian Institute

Read more:

The authors are not employees of, consultants to, own stock in, or receive financial support from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.