Ephemera articles and stories that will
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What Did Printers Print? by Richard Sheaff Many 19th century promotional cards and advertisements for printing and engraving companies list of the sorts of things they had produced, or wished to produce. I always like to take a close look at such listings, and am often rewarded with new inform…

The Incomparable Jim Flora Artist and commercial illustrator Jim Flora (1914-1998) had one of the most wildly imaginative twentieth-century minds. I started collecting his record album covers decades ago when finding these obscure items was a matter of haunting the record bins at every thrift…

John Sayers Donates Ocean Liner Collection to John Johnson Collection in the Bodleian Library. John Sayers is a longtime ESA member and a collector of ocean liner ephemera. In an interview conducted with Julie-Ann Lambert of the John Johnson Collection, he recalls what first drew him to the s…

This 1886 trade card (4 3/8” X 7 3/8”) depicts a baseball game and reproduces equipment that appears dated to contemporary viewers. Yet despite its antiquity, we recognize the images, affirming that the basic game of baseball has not changed in the 130 years since the card was issued. …

Did you know that the expression came from nineteenth-century politicians (and others) cribbing from notes written on their paper cuffs? Apparently the urge to avoid washing the white collars and cuffs that were a hallmark of Middle Class employment or womanly gentility was strong enough to c…

I want to look at three seasonal trade cards put out by 19th-century merchants. What I particularly like about these examples is that they include portraits of family members of the company founders. Like so many new businesses, these enterprises were family affairs and members of different g…

The Ephemera Society of America is exceptionally fortunate to have a Valentine’s Day ephemera collector as our President Emerita. Nancy Rosin wears many hats, one of which is as Volunteer Cataloger for Department of Drawings and Prints of The Met! This year, she wrote about her expertise …

Nothing has changed the modern kitchen more than the introduction of electricity. The early 1900’s kitchen had the icebox on the back porch and wood stove in the kitchen. With electricity the refrigerator was moved inside the kitchen and it became the focal point instead of the stove. By 1930 …

Let’s take a dive into a must-have beach staple: the swimsuit. From the Middle Ages through the 18th Century, swimming was strongly discouraged. The term “swimsuit” was coined by Jantzen Knitting Mills in 1915. Over the next several decades, Jantzen transformed the swimwear industry, from mat…