Ephemera

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Ephemera is transitory written and printed matter, not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, baseball cards, bookmarks, cigarette cards, greeting cards, letters, photographs, postcards, posters, stock certificates, tickets, and zines. Decks of personality identification playing cards from the war in Iraq are a recent example.

In library and information science, the term ephemera also describes the class of published single-sheet or single page documents which are meant to be thrown away after one use. It includes: postcards, event-oriented posters, transportation and show tickets, baggage stickers, stock certificates, motor vehicle licensing forms, business cards, printed wedding invitations, trade cards, and other similar printed materials. This classification excludes simple letters and photographs with no printing on them, which are considered manuscripts or typescripts.

An academic or a national library often has a rare book department that acquires and organises ephemera, to preserve them as history. Museums may also collect and preserve ephemera.

[edit] Etymology

Ephemera is a noun, the plural neuter of ephemeron and ephemeros, Greek and New Latin for epi = on and hemera = day with the ancient sense extending to the mayfly and other short lived insects and flowers and for something which lasts a day or a short period of time.

[edit] References

The Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator, and Historian by Maurice Rickards et alia. London: The British Library; New York: Routledge, 2000.
Fragments of the Everyday: A Book of Australian Ephemera /Richard Stone (2005, ISBN 0-642-27601-3)