Do you own/collect any ephemera?

Main Entry: ephem·era
Pronunciation: i-'fe-m&r-&, -'fem-r&
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural ephemera also ephem·er·ae /-m&r-E, -rE /; or ephemeras
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek ephEmera, neuter plural of ephEmeros
1 : something of no lasting significance – usually used in plural
2 ephemera plural : paper items (as posters, broadsides, and tickets) that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles

I guess by that definition, things like postage stamps apply.

I like to go through ephemera in antique shops, and at book fairs, etc. but seldom buy.

As a kid I collected mint stamps but now like to use them up as postage. Seems fitting. I’ll buy lots of odd stamps at stamp and coin shows for face value and then use them on mail.

I also collect cheap travel posters of places I’ve been or ships and planes I’ve been on that are now out of service.

And you?

One interesting thing is postcards. My daughter had me buy a bunch at a collectables shop. Old ones can be had for 10¢ each unused. Then she would put them in the gift shop of the summer camp she taught at. The kids would love to send home those odd postcards of Egypt and Moscow and Spain, pretending they had gone far away for the summer.

Not a serious collector but I have some ticket stubs from various shows and events. I stick them on magnetic backing and then pop them on my refrigerator. I also pick up postcards when I travel anywhere and have bought the occasional antique postcard. I have a few odd movie posters tucked here and there that I keep meaning to have framed, and some sheet music that my parents gave me after my grandmother died.

I have some old Valentines from the 1920s through the late 1940s. Eventually, I plan to frame them and put them up in my studio.

When my dad was alive, he collected Victorian trade cards. There’s an incredible variety of those things. He used to buy old scrapbooks at auctions and soak the cards off the pages.

I’ve gone a bit bonkers with ephemera, as I usually do with anything I start to collect. I’ve got a couple albums full of the stuff, including postcards (advertising, celebrities/royalty and transportation subjects preferred); small flyers and advertising cards of various types, mainly adverts for raves, fortunetellers and seers, art gallery shows and, er, ladies of loose morals; airline baggage tags, and a few sports-related items. Almost everything dates from the early '90s onward and, except for some of the postcards, cost nothing. Someday I’m gonna be rich, I tells ya, RICH!

No, not really. I just like the way the stuff looks. For example, some of the rave flyers, most of which I collected in Paris in the '90s, are incredibly intricate and spectacularly beautiful.

In the family, but not with me, are some fairly amazing collections of paper items from various railroads of the 1910-1050 era put together by my great grandfather, who was a highly placed executuve on a now-defunct line in the northeast: notably a large collection of passes (ride-free cards) for most of the North American passenger railroads of the period, and an album containing builders photos of much of the American Locomotive Co. (ALCo)'s output in the '30s and '40s.

Er, 1910-1950 era, of course. There weren’t too many railroads around at the time of the Battle of Hastings, so I’m told.

I buy, paint and then collect lead gaming miniatures. The collecting is the incidental side-effect of the painting hobby. I try to sell them whenever possible to make back a little cash, but there are some that I keep for my own collection.

Paper dolls-I love old fashioned, historical costuming, and Tom Tierney in particular does some FABULOUS paper dolls based on old vintage costumes.

I also like collecting Art Nouveau style anything-including postcards and illustrations.

I got nothin. I collect silver and gold coins, but they don’t meet the definition.

I have a box of late 19th-, or early 20th-century paper dolls that belonged to my Great Grand Aunt. Most of them were advertising promotions from Enameline Stove Polish, Fairy Soap, Piper’s Ma-Ma Bread and None Such New England Mince Meat. They’re not in the best of shape (and Aunt Alma wrote on the backs of them) so I doubt they’re worth anything, but I should get them framed or something before they disintegrate in the box.

Using definition #1, that could be my vinyl LP collection from the '80s.
Pretty much every one is worthless, and the ones I have autographed I can’t bear to part with (so I’ll never see any money for them).

I’ll swap with you if you want.

I have a moderate sized collection of original comic book art, which is treated by both the publishers and often times the artists as a by-product of the production process and can be surprisingly cheap. Something like a Jack Kirby original can be outrageously pricey, but the modern pages - which I prefer anyway - can be be had for as little as $5. Because the artists aren’t paid much and speed is of the essence, they’re rarely made of archival materials so they won’t last, but I plan to enjoy them for as long as they look pretty.

Other than that, I own odds and ends meet the definition of “accumulation” better than “collection.” :smiley: As someone whose primary collecting interest is antique porcelain that will last for thousands of years, I say that I’d never invest much in ephemera, but looking at the list below, well… perhaps I need to revise that statement.

[ul]
[li]Several Victorian era sporting prints and trade cards, primarily of Greyhounds but also of random things that caught my eye, like a Great Auk. [/li][li]Some gorgeous 1930’s San Francisco postcards made from thin cardboard and shaped like cable cars and the state of California. No one in the family is positive with whom they originated - probably my late grandfather - but everyone agreed that they “needed” to live with me.[/li][li]A handful of recent anime cells that I’m sure are of no lasting value, but they’re cute, bright, and colorful. I originally bought them to distribute as gifts because they feature interesting subjects like giant robots, but because of a change in circumstances they wound up staying. I still know next-to-nothing about anime, let alone the shows these ran in, but I’m getting a kick out of owning these. [/li][li]A couple of original paintings for postcards published in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s[/li][li]In-store displays and advertising give-aways for comic books, like faux newspapers and postcards, twirly cardboard things intended to hang on ceilings, and the occasional poster [/li][/ul]

Fitting both definitions - I’ve picked up and saved free give-away paper bookmarks since I was a kid (like the ones libraries and bookstores have at the front desk advertising new books).

My family picked up on this and sometimes send me actually purchased nicer bookmarks.

And I keep most postcards I’m sent - considering that some of my friends and relatives are world travelers it makes for an interesting collection.

Both collections are (mostly) arranged in scrapbooks. (Writing it out like this makes me sound like a hoarder - but it’s really only these two things, I promise.)

“Collect” might not be the right verb for what I do – stuff’s scattered hither and yon all over the house, and no real effort is made to preserve/protect it, but . . . .

I have kept several dozen minor league baseball programs/scorecards, and many more ticket stubs from minor league games, along with several pocket schedules, over the last 15 years or so, from a variety of parks/teams around the country. But I’ve never really started buying these from dealers or online – strictly what I get in person at the ballpark. I do have a program from the Baseball Hall of Fame induction in 1984 (I think, don’t have it handy), when Brooks Robinson and George Kell, two Arkansas-born players (and teammates at the end of Kell’s career and the beginning of Brooks’), were inducted together – that one I did buy on eBay a few years ago.

I’ve often thought of starting a serious collection of Arkansas-related ephemera – there’s always a bunch of cool postcards up for sale on eBay – but never have actually done it.

I have 23 Willys-Overland and Jeep ads (mostly from magazines); the oldest is from a 1906 Motor Age, and the most recent is from 1979. Five of these have been framed, and are hanging in the living room and my bedroom. I also have a variety of materials related to Willys-Overland: a letter from a New York Dealership (1916, concerning engine repair), an extensive article with color photos from a 1947 business magazine (Fortune?), and an Aero Willys advertising brochure from the early 1950’s.

I also have a September 1957 “Edsel Pointers” brochure, containing “advance information from your Edsel dealer.”

Within book-collecting circles, ephemera is often used to refer to non-book items related to authors. I don’t have much of it, but my dad has some letters written by John Steinbeck, some advertisements that he was featured in (a great one for Ballantine Ale from the late 40’s, I think) and a few other things like that.

When I still had a set of first editions of the 4 Pooh books (long story, had to sell for the right reason, but I still miss 'em), I was flipping through my copy of House at Pooh Corner and a loose-leaf fell out. It was an ad for a Christopher Robin Calendar from the year it was published (can’t recall off the top of my head, but believe it was 1929…).