Anyone with a lot of “stuff” around their house probably has nothing on Steve Mihaly and his immense collection of presidential campaign memorabilia.

The Gibsonia resident has between 20,000 and 25,000 items of campaign- and presidential-related paraphernalia he has collected over 50 years, some of which he displayed this week at presentations at the Trafford Community Public Library and Adams Memorial Library in Latrobe. Among his scheduled appearances are the Bridgeville Public Library on Oct. 23, West Overton Museums in East Huntingdon on Oct. 30, the McCandless/Northern Allegheny Heritage Center on Nov. 15, and the Cooper-Siegel Community Library in Fox Chapel on Feb. 20 ,

Much of Mihaly’s collection is stored at home, but some pieces considered of value are stored elsewhere, the 64-year-old said.

Mihaly said his wife knew he was an avid collector when they married.

“She realized that was part of the deal,” said Mihaly, a retired H.J. Heinz Company vice president.

Among the items in his vast collection are campaign buttons of all kinds, soap, playing cards, “goldwater” gold winged-bugs, handkerchiefs, mugs, door stops, a Richard Nixon shower head and slightly used “I Like Ike” hosiery.

As if he does not have enough reminders of past presidential campaigns, Mihaly continues looking for more through a variety of sources: word-of-mouth, flea markets, antique shops and “sometimes from folks who attend the presentations at libraries, museums, and historical societies.” He also advertises in newspapers.

Mihaly brought a small sliver of his collection — packaged in larger, glass-topped metal cases — to his “Marketing the Presidency” talks in Trafford and Latrobe. His oldest item, picked up at a garage sale, is a snuff box that promotes President James Monroe’s famous Monroe Doctrine of 1823. One of the most clever pieces is a plastic pin used on a piece of outdated telecommunications equipment — a “Rotary Phone Dialer” from Richard Nixon’s campaign.

As a presidential history buff and political historian, Mihaly supplements his slide show of presidential campaigns and memorabilia with insight on the marketing of candidates, from the mid-1800s to Barack Obama. He offers interesting tidbits about the winners’ presidencies and puts their time in office in perspective.

What Mihaly’s presentation shows is that long before the remaking of Nixon’s image for the 1968 campaign — as revealed in Joe McGinnis’s book, “The Selling of the Presidency” — politicians were marketed in a variety of clever ways with paraphernalia — some useful, many not. It was mass marketing for the masses before the days of national media.

Mihaly conveyed a little-known story on the origin of one of the most popular children’s toys - a stuffed Teddy bear. It was inspired by a story about President Theodore Roosevelt, referred to as T.R., who saw no reason to shoot a chained bear cub he saw. Some businesses picked up on the story and made stuffed bears, replete with hunting garb and Roosevelt’s spectacles.

While there are books for some collectibles — such as stamps and coins — that estimate the value of various items, Mihaly has shied away from the publishing world.

“It would be overwhelming,” Mihaly said, noting that no one knows how many of a particular item were made, so attaching a value to them is almost impossible.

“You don’t know if they made a million or a thousand,” Mihaly said.

What keeps him collecting after all these decades?

“To me, its finding something new … something different,” he said. “That’s the excitement.”

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252 or jnapsha@tribweb.com.

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