The Locals Chapter
Background: The American Local Items Political Collectors (ALPIC) is a specialty chapter of the APIC that focuses on the collecting and preservation of items from locals campaigns such as Governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, mayors, coattails and other local races. ALPIC members are interested in identifying previously unknown political items and often swap information on newly-discovered items. One advantage of collecting locals is that there is a never-ending supply of items out there waiting to be added to someone’s collection.
ALPIC dates back to the 1970's, making it one of the oldest chapters in the hobby. For many years, ALPIC members have worked on various research projects intended to aid other collectors in identifying what items are available and where they come from. For example, 2002-03 marked the re-birth of the Election Cycle Projects. In years past, ALPIC members have published a guide of items produced in each state for Governor and US Senate campaigns every two years. 1994 marked the last cycle such a project was published until this year.
Current ALPIC President Trent LeDoux, a collector from Kansas, compiled an illustrative guide of items used in Governor and U. S. Senate races from all 50 states in the 2002 and 2003 election cycles. Each member of ALPIC received a copy of this project as a benefit of their membership. Collectors have been encouraged to send images of 2004 and 2006 items to LeDoux who will compile a new edition for the 2004 election and 2006 election cycles.
In addition to the Election Year Projects, an Iowa Project and an Ohio Project have been completed in recent years by ALPIC members and have been made available to ALPIC members at reduced prices. The chapter helps underwrite the production costs of these state projects so that our members can obtain them at minimal cost. Presently, ALPIC members are working on a Kansas Project and a Pennsylvania Project. Additionally, a newly revised early Governor/U. S. Senate project is in the preliminary stages. This issue will be different in that it will include both governor and US Senate pins through 1940.
Any members and/or collectors who are interested in assisting with these projects, or who are interested in doing their own project from another state should contact ALPIC President Trent LeDoux.
While the projects are both fun and full of great research, our hobby is also blessed with many opportunities for members to add items to their own personal collections in the form of auctions. In recent years, locals collectors have seen the number and quality of auctions increase. Today, there are at least 3 regularly-issued auctions devoted almost exclusively to locals, and another 1 or 2 that come out less regularly, but which also devote most or all of their space to locals.
Auctions: there are a number of excellent auctions that can be a great source for adding locals to your collection:
All-American Auction - issued by Pat Lenington of Oklahoma 3 to 4 times a year. This has been a great source of items from across America, especially from the West.
Dave Quintin’s auction - issued by Texan Dave Quintin. This has evolved to include about half presidential and half locals. Dave’s auction is divided into two sessions, the first primarily presidential followed by the locals section.
Mugwump Locals Auction - issued by Skip Morgan from North Carolina for several years now. His auction comes less frequently than the others, but it usually contains items, both new and old, from across the USA.
Great Plains Political Auction - issued by Trent LeDoux from Kansas. First issued in 2003, LeDoux’s auction also devotes itself to new and older items from all 50 states. The Great Plains auction is issued quarterly so that collectors can plan on it with regularity. LeDoux also devotes some of the space in his auction to a regular update on ALPIC activities. Each of these auctions welcomes consignments.
ALPIC members also receive a wonderful newsletter each quarter that is assembled and distributed by ALPIC Newsletter editor, Larry Brokofsky of Lincoln, Nebraska. Brokofsky, a long time locals collector himself, does a fine job writing entertaining and educational articles for the membership. The newsletter recently showcased some of the great old trigates of ALPIC Secretary/Treasurer Jim Weling of Glendale, California. The last two issues contained color pages of Weling’s trigates. This colorization of the newsletter was a “first” for ALPIC. Members raved about the issues, and more colorization is planned for future issues.
Brokofsky is always looking for stories from members and submitted images of unknown items for inclusion the ever-popular “Can U Identify?” section of the newsletter. Members are encouraged to pen a story about their favorite candidate(s), memorable election campaign or any other interesting political occurrence and submit it for publication in the ALPIC Newsletter.
In addition to at least 4 newsletters a year, ALPIC members receive at least one members-only auction. Items are donated to the chapter and auctioned to the membership. Proceeds go to help pay for the newsletters, projects and other activities of ALPIC. This auction helps us keep the dues at $12 per year.
Chapter Officers:
President: Trent LeDoux - (785) 364-3707 or tkledoux@earthlink.net
Secretary/Treasurer: Jim Weling - (818) 246-2224
Publication Editor: Larry Brokofsky - (402) 486-3441 or lbro@prodigy.net
Click here to send chapter updates to the Chapter Coordinator.