Welcome to #TravelTuesday! Every first Tuesday until September, Caitlin Angelone, Reference Librarian, will be showing off some intriguing, ephemera-based destinations to visit, beginning with health resorts!
History of Ephemera
Ephemera is any written or printed matter is not meant to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek ephomeros, meaning “lasting one only day, or short-lived.” Ephemera can include such items such as trade cards, greeting cards, letters, pamphlets, postcards, tickets for events, single-sheet flyers, and buttons. If you go to a concert and keep your ticket to stick in a box or mount on a wall collage – you are a keeper of ephemera!
Libraries and museums collect ephemera because it gives researchers a snapshot of a period of time. Researchers who use ephemera may look at the items from an artistic standpoint – what graphics, colors, typeface, and printers were popular. Researchers may also look at advertisements, and how they were marketed towards certain demographics such as race or gender.
At the Historical Medical Library, we collect a type of ephemera related to medical trades that represent, for example, companies, food manufacturers, hospitals, health resorts, and physicians all of which was advertised to both the medical profession and potential patients.
First destination is tomorrow – don’t miss out!