Ephemera
[3][4] Ephemera are often paper-based, printed items, including menus, ticket stubs, newspapers, postcards, posters, sheet music, stickers, and greeting cards.
Collectors and special interest societies have contributed to a greater willingness to preserve ephemera, which is now ubiquitous in archives and library collections.
The etymological origin of Ephemera (ἐφήμερα) is the Greek epi (ἐπί) – "on, for" and hemera (ἡμέρα) – "day".
[6] The initial sense extended to the mayfly and other short-lived insects and flowers, belonging to the biological order Ephemeroptera.
[3] Ephemera and ephemerality have mutual connotations of "passing time, change, and the philosophically ultimate vision of our own existence".
[15] Categorising types of ephemera has presented difficulties to fixed systems in library science and historiography due to the ambiguity of the kinds of items that might be included.
[18] Challenges pertaining to ephemera include determining its creator, purpose, date and location of origin and impact thereof.
[6] Artistic ephemera include sand paintings, sculptures composed of intentionally transient material, graffiti, and guerrilla art.
[12][37] The material usage of printed ephemera is very often minimal and much are without art, although a distinct design lexicon can be found in pieces.
[6][33] Early ephemera, functionally monochromatic and predominantly textual, indicates a greater access to printing from common people and later cheap photography.
[46] By the 19th century, color printing was present, as were vivid, creative, innovative and ornate design, due to the incorporation of lithography.
[59] Ephemera's mundane ubiquity is a relatively modern phenomenon, evidenced by Henri Béraldi's amazed writings on their proliferation.
[70][71][72] Discussing an increase in ephemera by the mid-19th century, E.S Dallas wrote that new etiquette had been introduced, thus "a new era" was to follow, espousing the impression that authorship and literature were no longer hermetic.
[73] In 1998, librarian Richard Stone wrote that the internet "can be seen as the ultimate in ephemera with its vast amount of information and advertising which is extremely transitory and volatile in nature, and vulnerable to change or deletion".
[77] The Tate Library defines "e-ephemera" as the digital-born content and paratext of an email, typically of a promotional variety, produced by cultural institutions; similar in nature, monographs, catalogues and micro-sites are excluded, per being considered e-books.
[75][83][84] Citing ostensibly infinite digital storage, Wasserman said that the category, ephemera, may cease to exist, its contents having been ultimately preserved.
[26][99][87][100] Such a connection has been described as evocative and atmospheric; the memory as collective and cultural; the nostalgia as populist and the ephemera associated with melancholy.
[37][57][106] A significant amount of scholars have been collectors, archivists and amateurs, particularly at the inception of ephemera studies, a now burgeoning academic field.
[36][107][108] Digitisation of ephemera has provided accessibility and spurred renewed interest, following the "few writings" present at the start of the 21st century.
