Joseph M. Madda

My wife and I like to travel.  During our forty years together, we have visited numerous US states and cities, along with many other countries.  Throughout those sojourns I am always on the lookout for souvenir pins.  I mean the little lapel pins, mostly enameled (aka cloisonae’) metal, but sometimes wooden.  For me they represent a summation of remarkable experiences, a reminder of interesting routes taken and delightful destinations reached.  Years later, they jog my memory of places I have forgotten.

Many are from Southern California, where we lived for decades, and also from the Midwest, especially Chicago, where my wife and I grew up and then returned nine years ago.  There also are pins from elsewhere in the US, Canada, and Europe.   I did not always find pins for special locations, and I don’t collect pins for locales that just do not satisfy.  Additionally, I do not have them from areas I went for business, such as Japan.  But there is still time for those!

The artwork in these pins is fascinating.  How DO you sum up a particular place with one little image?  Some are obvious (but still handsome) like the City of Chicago flag for the Chicago History Museum.  Others are more daring like the stylized, white structural “wings” of the Milwaukee Museum of Art.  Color and/or intricate detail are often used to good effect like the blueprint-like reproduction of the Art Deco front facade at the Cincinnati Union Station.  Others simply miniaturize symbols used elsewhere, like the Route 66 highway signage.

Anyway, I have over 50 of them now.  Many are from museums and allied places (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Ronald Reagan Library in SoCal; Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg, Canada; National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin) as we enjoy arts and cultures of all sorts. 

Of course, as an architect for so many years, I have visited famous sites and buildings, both modern and historical (Falling Water in Pennsylvania; Robie House in Chicago; Thomas Jeffersons’s Poplar Forest summer home and Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia; Lincoln’s Home in Springfield, Illinois). 

Then there are wonderful national parks and famous gardens (Yosemite National Park in California, Volcanos National Park on the Big Island in Hawaii; Butchart Gardens on Victoria Island in British Columbias, Canada; and of course the Chicago Botanic Garden). 

Now, first you have to GET to great stops.  So we commemorate special routes too (Route 66 “from Chicago to LA”; Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia; VIA Rail Canada; Mackinac Bridge in Michigan).  And geographic areas which delighted us (Quebec, Canada; Columbus, Indiana; Niagara Falls, New York; Bergen, Norway). 

So…what do I do with these pins?  I mean, how do I store them?  Keep them out of sight, heaped in a drawer?  Or on display, up on a wall?  No, I came up with a different approach.  Many years ago, I went on a camping trip to Yosemite National Park with my new wife.  On the way I bought a simple, tan, cotton sun hat.  Little did I know at the time that this humble chapeau would become the repository of many memories. Gradually I have filled the sides and top of it with my tiny souvenirs.  

The head gear still fits, although a little heavier on the noggin; I wear it occasionally for kicks.  Most importantly, it still has room left for new pins.  What do I do when there is no more space?  Well, as they say, I will cross that bridge when I come to it!