Hayes-Wheeler Campaign Lantern, 1876

Late-nineteenth-century political parties rallied their supporters by holding torchlight parades. In the evening, marchers lit up the street carrying torches, lamps and lanterns. Many of these political lanterns glowed with the names of the candidates, slogans and patriotic symbols. Supporters of Rutherford B. Hayes and William Wheeler--the winning Republican ticket in 1876--would have carried a lantern like this lantern during nighttime festivities.