Posters, Banners, Boarding Passes: Museums Try to Get a Head Start on History

The day after Ireland’s recent abortion referendum, Brenda Malone woke up early, walked to her car and took a stepladder and some wire cutters out of the trunk.

Then she started climbing up lampposts and cutting down any campaign posters she could find. The first one had a picture of a fetus on it, with the words “Don’t repeal me.”

Ms. Malone may have looked like an activist claiming mementos of the referendum or a protester making a final act of defiance after Ireland’s vote to rescind the Constitution’s ban on abortion. But Ms. Malone had different reasons: She is a curator at the National Museum of Ireland who is working to preserve the posters.

Since that day, Ms. Malone has put out a call for flags, banners and signs used in the campaign — she received her first item last week, and is in discussions for around 25 more. She also successfully asked for airline boarding passes from women who flew back to Ireland for the vote.