Souvenirs

Souvenir: Lincoln, The Great Emancigator

Sunday, December 28th, 2008

When it comes to Abe Lincoln, tourist attractions haven’t been shy in finding ways to cash in and merchandise. We’ve seen all manner of misshapen statuary of our 16th President, commemorative plates, paperweights, and trashy keepsakes. Unlike Elvis Presley, there is no surviving estate with a lawyer army to crush off-brand souvenirs. But Lincoln is [...]

“Sleepy Mexican” Gets Big And Crumbly, Becomes Art

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

Big rumblings from the Arizona/Mexican border, where a Canadian and Cuban artist labor to build a 12-foot-tall sand sculpture of a sombrero-shaded sleepy Mexican.

Snoozing Senor salt and pepper shakers.
The snoozing senor is “commonly found in tourist souvenirs,” according to a press release posted on artdaily.org. It’s not all that common, but it is a [...]

Governor Uses Convention Cover To Ax Lincoln Cabin

Saturday, August 30th, 2008

Strange news from the Land of Lincoln. The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reported that Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, a democrat, flew home on the climactic day of the Democratic National Convention. And then he immediately cut hundreds of state jobs and closed nearly two dozen historic sites and parks — including the Lincoln [...]

Was Christus Gardens Scourged By A Souvenir?

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

We admit that legal mumbo-jumbo is not our favorite reading genre. But an article in The National Law Journal seems to suggest that the now-closed Christus Gardens may have been at least partly pushed into the afterlife by a souvenir in its gift shop.
The collectible in question was a miniature plastic version of what [...]

Souvenir: Hatchet Hannah Bobble Head

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

One of the angriest icons in America is Hannah Duston, pioneer mom. Turning on her captors, she killed and scalped a dozen Abenaki Indians with a tomahawk in 1697, and two statues were erected to commemorate her hacking spree: one in her home town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and the other at the massacre site in [...]

No Second-Rate Souvenirs For The Second Amendment

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

We recently visited the gift shop at the NRA National Firearms Museum, which claims to stock over 500 gun publications, more than any other store in the U.S., and, therefore, most likely, the world. It also has a wall of replica guns and paint ball weapons for sale, but these each cost in the [...]

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