Gingerich's political memorabilia collection took years to amass
John Gingerich's collection includes this rare cloth McKinley-Roosevelt campaign umbrella from 1900. The Lexington Resident has been a collector of various items since he was a boy. (Submitted Photo)
John Gingerich has been collecting political memorabilia since he was a fifth-grader in 1960, when Nixon and Kennedy were vying for the White House.
Since then, the Lexington resident has added thousands of items to his collection.
“It’s gotten beyond the point of counting,” Gingerich said.
Gingerich’s early love of history and collecting drove his passion.
“I've always liked history, and I've always been a collector,” he said. “I mean, as a boy, I collected rocks. My mother took me to the gravel pit, and we’d get fossils out of it, and like coins and stamps. So, it’s just kind of in my blood.”
When Gingerich first started collecting political memorabilia, he was on his own. But he realized there were people all around the country searching for memorabilia like him when he joined a group called the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) in 1972.
Through APIC, Gingerich would go to political collectors' shows, but also antique shows, flea markets and anywhere else he could find rare items.
John Dunning, a fellow collector and lifelong friend from Oklahoma, said he admired Gingerich and his collection, calling him a “real good hunter” for rare memorabilia.
“It’s pretty incredible and pretty comprehensive and he's got stuff going back to the early years of the presidency,” Dunning said. “It's pretty massive. He’s had everything.”
Gingerich’s collection of mainly campaign-related memorabilia was, at one point, one of the largest in the Southeast. Gingerich said he recently sold many pieces, but still keeps items for his personal collection.
Gingerich used to travel throughout the country and set up his collection at a variety of shows, and still goes to some that specialize in political memorabilia.
“To make my living over the years, I’ve done antique shows and flea markets and traveled all over the country,” Gingerich said.
Although he won’t admit to a favorite piece, he claims an unique silk ribbon with pictures of Martin Van Buren, who was president from 1837-41, and his running mate, is his most valuable item, stating that it’s worth in the high five figures.
“I teased the people about my Van Buren ribbon that I'm gonna have it buried with me,” Gingerich said.
He’s taken a step back from going out to shows and hunting for items to spend less time traveling the past few years.
“I miss the travel for sure,” Gingerich said. “Being in the antique and the junk world, you create a family out there, and I have people all over the country, I can still go and stay at their houses.”
And it’s his passion for the collecting community that stands out to him about his time actively hunting pieces.
“That’s what my whole life has been, buying and selling and trading, all kinds of things,” Gingerich said. “But I specialized in political memorabilia for my own collection. So I still keep a lot of political stuff.”