| Why collect old paper? I hear this question a lot | | | | loved one; it may be collectible for its own sake |
| when I tell people that I'm interested in ephemera. | | | | (e.g., baseball cards, postcards, and stamps); or, it |
| For those unfamiliar, ephemera is commonly | | | | may add value or interest to an existing collection |
| defined as transitory written and printed matter | | | | of other collectible objects. |
| that was produced for short-term uses-not | | | | One of the more difficult aspects of ephemera |
| intended to be retained or preserved. Aside from | | | | collecting is judging the age of a piece of undated |
| ephemera being an interesting and often valuable | | | | paper. It's easy to determine the age of an |
| collectible in its own right, it has several practical | | | | antique document that has a date clearly printed |
| applications for everyday life, including: | | | | on it. However, when a date isn't present, it pays |
| 1. Historical Research. Authors and historians use | | | | to know a few tricks to help judge its age. Here |
| ephemera for deep research into companies, | | | | are three tricks to roughly gauging the age of |
| people, and products. And many genealogists find | | | | undated paper: |
| it to be indispensable in their work. Ephemera | | | | 1. Check the Address. If there's an address but |
| collections are housed at many universities, | | | | no zip code, then it's likely the item was printed |
| libraries, and museums specifically for its value in | | | | prior to 1963 when zip codes were introduced by |
| academic and scholarly research. | | | | the U.S. Postal Service. They became mandatory |
| 2. Decorative. People hang framed ephemera, | | | | in 1967. |
| such as vintage posters, advertisements, | | | | 2. Check the Phone Number. If there's a phone |
| vernacular photography, lobby cards, etc., on the | | | | number with no area code, then it's likely the item |
| walls of their homes and offices. Collectible paper | | | | was printed prior to the late 1940s, when area |
| can be a conversation piece or the focal point of | | | | codes began to be used in major metro areas. |
| a room. | | | | 3. Paper produced before 1953 won't fluoresce |
| 3. Artist's Raw Material. Many commercial and fine | | | | under black light like paper produced after that |
| artists use ephemera as the principle source of | | | | date. (This is due to lack of certain chemical |
| raw material in their work. Several well-known | | | | "brighteners" that were added to paper during the |
| collage artists, for instance, use old paper as a | | | | manufacturing process after 1953.). Most paper, |
| principle ingredient. Commercial artists sometimes | | | | even antique paper, will fluoresce somewhat, but |
| use ephemera in print, broadcast, and outdoor | | | | the difference between older and newer paper |
| advertising. Amateur artists use it to produce a | | | | should be noticeable. |
| variety of crafts, and scrapbook enthusiasts use | | | | I use these tricks while doing research as the |
| ephemera to decorate the pages of their albums. | | | | Webmaster for ephemera. However, none of the |
| Of course, there are just as many or more | | | | dating methods I've outlined are scientific, and |
| whimsical reasons to collect ephemera: it may | | | | they certainly do not provide conclusive proof of |
| remind you of a past experience, occupation, or | | | | a document's age. |