Vintage Employee ID Buttons

February 9, 2011
Ms. Lilly

Photo by Boston Bill

Before the days of fancy electronic swipe cards and plastic, clip-on photo identification, employees at some companies were required to wear a type of button with their photo, along with some company or employee information.

The smiling face of employee number 7779 from Eli Lily & Company is just one example. Check out the full set of working class heroes in Boston Bill’s photoset.