American Antiquarian Society update: GIGI

Since my post in January 2012, the American Antiquarian Society has launched its Digital Image Archive, called GIGI with beautifully presented tif-format thumbnails. This is in addition to other stand-alone digital projects and online exhibitions. Of particular interest to ephemerists are the 1415 broadsides (Browse and select broadsides).  A keyword search for ephemera yields 3018 results at the time of writing (of 10,000 results from a keyword search in the General Catalogue). There are links from the catalogue into GIGI where appropriate, so the advice to scholars is to start there.

All very exciting for those of us who don't have Readex and want to browse the collections of the AAS.   There is advanced searching too within GIGI.



Search for broadside in GIGI (C) American Antiquarian Society

A list of collections represented includes the following categories of ephemera:
Album cards; Billheads; Broadsides; Christmas cards; Civil War envelopes; Currency; Election Ballots; Invitations; Membership Certificates; Menus; Postcards; Ream Wrappers; Sheet Music; Trade Cards; Valentines; and Watch papers from Graphic Arts, and Trade catalogs from Books. There are also hundreds of prints.

The AAS blog also has posts about ephemera (e.g. the recent post about Irish ballads for St. Patrick's Day) and a very active Twitter account: @AmAntiquarian

The Red Cross Museum and Archives: guest post by Jemma Lee

Congratulations to the Red Cross, celebrating its 150th anniversary today.

In September, I was privileged to visit the Red Cross Library with a small group from the Ephemera Society.  I invited Jemma Lee to write a guest post and am very grateful to her for doing so. 

The British Red Cross museum and archives exist to collect, preserve and make accessible to a wide audience the history of the British Red Cross and its place in the context of the international movement. 

The collection comprises both archive records and museum artefacts which have been generated and acquired by the organisation from its formation in 1870 as the British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War, to the present day and our continuing vital contribution in society. 

In addition to official minute books, annual reports, uniforms and medical equipment, the collection contains a fascinating array of ephemera which serves to strengthen the evidence that we hold of our humanitarian work and in many cases, to provide a personal element to our story.  Medals and badges awarded by the Society demonstrate the role of the volunteer, whilst labels from collecting tins and tickets for balls and galas provide colour and context to our fundraising activities.   

Poster, 1939. (C) British Red Cross Museum and Archives

The poster collection is particularly valuable in providing a visual record of our services such as first aid and care in the home, with examples by Tom Purvis and Charles Pears often proving to be very popular with visitors.  

Other ephemeral items include Christmas cards, stamps and packaging from products sent in food and relief parcels to Prisoners of War.   The latter subject is in fact greatly enhanced by this collection, with menus, programmes and propaganda leaflets, which are a valuable addition to the authorised documents of the Red Cross and hence offer a source of unique information for researchers.  

0566/32 (C) British Red Cross Museum and Archives

The website outlines the scope of the collections and there is an online catalogue through which the museum and archives can be separately searched through simple, advanced and expert search screens, often with digitised images, exemplified in this screen shot of a search for poster in the Museum collection.

(C) British Red Cross Museum and Archives

There are also online exhibitions of photographs and ephemera, including an overview of historical posters.

Ephemera is used within the context of the larger Museum and Archive collections to promote the work of the British Red Cross internally to staff and volunteers and externally to answer enquiries.  Tours of the collection can be arranged and research space can be booked by appointment either by emailing enquiry@redcross.org.uk  or by telephoning 020 7877 7058. 

 

Australasian ephemera: guest post by Anthony Tedeschi

I am delighted to open the new season of the John Johnson Collection's Ephemera Resources blog with the first of two guest posts by Anthony Tedeschi, Rare Books Librarian at Dunedin City Library. This post focuses on New Zealand ephemera . Many thanks to him for sharing his knowledge of ephemera collections on the other side of the world.

All images are courtesy of the Heritage Collections, Dunedin City Library, Dunedin, New Zealand

Programme for a show touring New Zealand to raise funds for the country's 

armed services during the Second World War

Australasian Ephemera Collections – Part 1: New Zealand

One of the four courses offered during this year’s Australian & New Zealand Rare Book Summer School held at the State Library of Victoria (SLVA), Melbourne, was ‘Ephemera: A Collector’s Key to the History of Books’. Each morning the course instructor, Emeritus Professor Wallace Kirsop, lead us on a highly informative tour through book dealer catalogues, type specimens, printers’ and binders’ bills and labels, prospectuses, and other bibliographical ephemera. In the afternoons, the class was treated to presentations by some of the SLVA curators and paid a visit to the rare books collection of Monash University.

Meeting my fellow classmates and learning about the ephemera actively collected by two of Melbourne’s many cultural / educational institutions piqued my curiosity: What other collections of ephemera – not only in Australia but in New Zealand as well – are ‘out there’? Of course most libraries and museums will have some ephemera in their collections, such as the programmes printed on silk, railway pass and phrenological chart of Sir George Grey’s head held in the Auckland City Libraries, Sir George Grey Special Collections. Rather than attempt to record every institution, this post (the first of two) aims to highlight those organisations that maintain dedicated ephemera collections. It is hoped readers aware of other collections in New Zealand and Australia will contribute to this list by way of comments.

Theatre programme, Oct 30 1926

DunedinCity Library, Heritage Collections

The City Library Heritage Collections holds a collection of over 400 pieces of ephemera relating primarily to Dunedin, but touching on some national topics as well. Pamphlets, menus, printed advertisements, brochures, all on a range of subjects. The collection is particularly strong in theatre and music ephemera, and in material related to exhibitions held in New Zealand and overseas.

In addition to this dedicated ephemera collection, Robert McNab, who donated his collection of 4,200 books to the library in 1913, also gave over multiple volumes of bound tracts and pamphlets.

N.B. The website states that the ephemera collection is uncatalogued, which is now outdated information. The collection has been fully catalogued and can be browsed in the library catalogue [select ‘Power Search’ – drop-down menu ‘location’ – DP McNab Ephemera Collection]

Hocken Library

There are 140.5 archives shelves and 125.5 book shelves of printed ephemera, not including material held in the posters collection or art ephemera.

The scope of the ephemera collection is to support those of the other Hocken collections and encompasses general New Zealand themes, and Otago and Southland in particular. It is representative rather than comprehensive and includes material for its informative and/or aesthetic value. Especial emphasis and priority is given to University of Otago and Hocken Collections ephemera. Music ephemera relating to the Dunedin area, and artists' and election ephemera for all of New Zealand are given priority. The collection is strong in classical music, fine arts and the performing arts, as well as educational and tourism material. Material ranges in age from the nineteenth century to the current day.

Like McNab, Dr. T. M. Hocken’s 1908 gift to the nation included bound tracts, programmes and book dealer catalogues.

[Description provided by Katherine Milburn, Liaison Librarian (Ephemera), Hocken Library]

Museum ofNew Zealand / Te Papa Tongarewa

As a national repository, Te Papa’s collection is one of New Zealand’s largest. Many of the museum’s separate collections, such as Artworks, Fashion and the First World War each actively collect ephemera.

NationalLibrary of New Zealand (general ephemera)

The National Library of New Zealand boasts the country’s largest collection of ephemera. The Manuscripts, Drawings, Paintings and Prints, and Special Printed departments all maintain ephemera collections.

NationalLibrary of New Zealand (printed ephemera)

In addition to the separate divisions mentioned above, the Alexander Turnbull Library (part of the NLNZ) holds a printed ephemera collection of more than 190,000 items from the 1840s to the present.

New Zealand NavalMuseum

Included in the Naval Museum ephemera are leaflets, menus, Christmas cards, event programmes, and fleet reviews.

University ofCanterbury, MacMillan Brown Library

Canterbury maintains three separate collections of ephemera: theatre and concert programmes, art files, and general ephemera.

Sir Edmund Hillary share certificate, issued to help support the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

 

[Guest post by Anthony Tedeschi, Rare Books Librarian, Dunedin City Library]