Research Guides: History of Text Technologies: Printed Ephemera

Ephemera

Ephemera refers to the subsection of texts - usually paper texts - that are created to be briefly used and then discarded. Due to their temporality, they are often more informal or "mundane" in subject and presentation than texts intended for longevity. Because they depict the everyday realities of the people who created them, ephemera texts that survive provide details about and reflect the moods of their times in a way more formal records do not and often cannot.

Ephemera in the Digital Library

Household Equipment

Programs, anyone?

Floating Islands brand Florida vegetables label

Advertisement for J. I. Mackey, jeweler. Mackey's Florida curiosity bazar.

Capitol March for Equal Rights Amendment

Examples from the Collection of FSU Special Collections & Archives

A modest answer to a printed pamphlet, entituled, A speech lately made by a noble peer of the realm by Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury
Call Number: Vault ; DA432 1681 .M6

Publication Date: 1681?

This is a brief four-page essay rebuking a recently printed speech given by one of Anthony Ashley Cooper's fellow noblemen.

External Sources for Printed Ephemera

Printed Ephemera from the Library of Congress
A collection of digitized ephemera from the Library of Congress with essays about different types of ephemeral documents.
What is "ephemera"?
A definition with many examples of ephemera from the Ephemera Society of America.
Prints and Ephemera
A digital catalogue of the Huntington Digital Library's Prints and Ephemera collection. As a disclaimer on the collection page states: "These materials were collected to document the history of the United States through printing and advertising. Therefore, users of the collection will find a large number of items with text and images having explicitly racist, xenophobic, sexist, and other offensive content. While this subject matter is in many cases reprehensible, it is preserved here for purposes of research and study. Strong consideration should be given to the work's history and context prior to public use."