The Oxford English Dictionary defines "ephemera" as "something which has a transitory existence". To designate a collection in the Fisher Rare Book Library "Ephemera", therefore, seems at first glance to be a contradiction in terms: surely our holdings are permanently preserved for the long-term research needs of our patrons? In fact, it’s not the collection which is ephemeral, but the material held within its rows and rows of archival boxes. These are materials that were originally created not to be permanently retained by their recipients.

We're still inundated with ephemera today – political pamphlets, subway tickets, advertising posters, travel brochures – a genre of print that is generally here today, and gone tomorrow. Our recycling bins are full of it. But collections of ephemera are important windows into the ways in which ordinary people lived their day-to-day lives at any given moment in history. They give us insight into how they vacationed, what they ate, how they relaxed, the clubs to which they belonged, how they congratulated one another at their weddings, and mourned with them at their funerals.

With the able help of our two new Access Services Associates, Jayson Meghie and Andrew Stewart, the Fisher Ephemera Collection is being catalogued. Besides their primary duty of welcoming visitors to the library and helping to ensure the security of our collections, our colleagues are preparing finding aids for each and every box. Now we know where to turn to find the 1889 entrance examination for the Library School at the University of the State of New York, outrageously inflated Weimar Republic currency, 19^th-century Christmas cards, and 1960s menus from sea cruises to name but a very few of the thousands of ephemeral items in the library’s possession. Fleeting materials, perhaps; but when captured, items that can speak volumes in a very small space.

The collection is currently searchable on the library's catalogue. In the next week, a page will be added to the web site that will list all the finding aids for the ephemera collection. Images from the collection can be seen below.

The Ephemera Collection