Obama Visual Iconography
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About this collection
This collection includes posters and memorabilia documenting the first campaign and election of President Barack Obama. The materials provide a unique visual iconography of the election of America’s first Black president, offering a teaching and research resource for understanding modern campaign strategies and political mobilization, and the representation of American politics though various markets and media.
Many of the posters were produced in advance of President Obama’s first inauguration on January 20, 2009 and were offered for sale in Washington DC as souvenirs for the thousands who traveled to the nation’s capital to witness the event. Together with the campaign memorabilia, they offer an opportunity to study how President Obama was packaged and presented to the public upon his first election.
Historical context
Barack Obama’s campaign and electoral victory will likely be regarded as one of the most consequential moments in American history. In 2008, Cornell Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections began adding materials about Barack Obama’s presidential campaign to its larger collections on the history of American presidential campaigns.
Using the collection
The copyright holders for some items in this collection are unknown.
For more information about the collection, please contact the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at rareref@cornell.edu.
More information
- Collection steward
- Katherine Reagan, Ernest Stern Curator, Rare Books & Manuscripts
- Metadata creation
- Cornell University Library
- Funding
- Grants Program for Digital Collections in Arts & Sciences, 2012; awarded to Travis Gosa, Africana Studies and Research Center; Katherine Reagan, Cornell University Library
- Credits
- This collection overview was adapted from the digitization grant application written by Travis Gosa and last reviewed in 2025.
- Collection sources