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Badges: symbols of identity
Badges: Symbols of Identity
Badges are unspoken messages. They express
identity, indicate membership, declare beliefs or make a fashion
statement. They can be subtle or direct, serious or humorous. They
provoke strong reactions: approval, respect, fear or
hostility.
Badges were
first mass-produced in Rome during the twelfth century AD. They
depicted St Peter and St Paul and were purchased by pilgrims to
show their devotion and as proof of their pilgrimage. Members of
guilds (associations of merchants or craftsmen) then started
wearing badges to indicate their professional status. Cheap and
quick badge-making technology later captured the imagination of
campaigners: in 1807 William Wilberforce ordered 50,000
anti-slavery medals.
The
London Emblem Company started selling badge-making machines in the
1970s, giving greater freedom of expression to individuals and
small groups. Badges are as popular as ever in the twenty-first
century: at Christmas 2003 badge-making kits were widely reported
as Britain's bestselling children's
toy.
This tour explores the
themes and beliefs expressed by twelve very different badges. It
was written to accompany the exhibition
Status Symbols: identity and belief on
modern badges, at the British Museum from
22 July 2004 to 16 January 2005.