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Ephemera
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==Etymology and categorisation== [[File:Haft.jpg|thumb|The mayfly ''[[Ephemera danica]]'']] [[File:Trade card for Esther Burney fan shop.jpg|thumb|A piece of ephemera circa 1749–1751, around the time Samuel Johnson may have coined the term]] The etymological origin of ''Ephemera'' ({{lang|grc|ἐφήμερα}}) is the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''epi'' ({{lang|grc|ἐπί}}) – "on, for" and ''hemera'' ({{lang|grc|ἡμέρα}}) – "day". This combination generated the term ephemeron in [[Neuter (grammar)|neuter]] gender; the neuter plural form is ephemera, the source of the modern word, which can be traced back to the works of [[Aristotle]].<ref name=":122">{{Cite journal |last=Young |first=Timothy G. |date=2003 |title=Evidence: Toward a Library Definition of Ephemera |journal=RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=11–26 |doi=10.5860/rbm.4.1.214 |s2cid=191348342 |issn=2150-668X|doi-access=free }}</ref> The initial sense extended to the [[mayfly]] and other short-lived insects and flowers, belonging to the biological order [[Ephemeroptera]].{{sfn|Wasserman|2020|p=2}} In 1751, [[Samuel Johnson]] used the term ''ephemerae'' in reference to "the papers of the day".<ref name=":6" /> This application of ''ephemera'' has been cited as the first example of aligning it with transient prints.<ref name=":20">{{Cite journal|last=Russell|first=Gillian|date=2014|title=The neglected history of the history of printed ephemera|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=00766232&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA394113310&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs|journal=Melbourne Historical Journal|language=English|volume=42|issue=1|pages=7–37}}</ref> ''Ephemeral'', by the mid-19th century, began to be used to generically refer to printed items.<ref name=":6" /> Ephemera and [[ephemerality]] have mutual connotations of "passing time, change, and the philosophically ultimate vision of our own existence".<ref name=":29">{{Cite journal |last=Roylance |first=Dale |date=1976 |title=Graphie Americana: The E. Lawrence Sampter Collection of Printed Ephemera |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40858619 |journal=The Yale University Library Gazette |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=104–114 |jstor=40858619 |issn=0044-0175}}</ref> The degree to which ephemera is ephemeral is due in part to the value bestowed upon it. Over time, the ephemerality of certain ephemera may change, as items fall in and out of fashion or popularity with collectors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pecorari |first=Marco |title=Fashion Remains: Rethinking Ephemera in the Archive |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2021 |isbn=9781350074774 |pages=4}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> Comic books, for example, were once considered ephemera; however, that perception later faded.<ref>{{Cite book |last=West |first=Joel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1151945452 |title=The Sign of the Joker: The Clown Prince of Crime as a Sign |publisher=Brill |year=2020 |isbn=978-90-04-40868-5 |location= |pages=31 |oclc=1151945452}}</ref> As a conceptual category, ephemera has interested scholars. [[Henry Jenkins]] has argued that the emergence of ephemera, and the interest that some people show in collecting items that other people throw away, showcases the immaterial nature of culture arising in daily life.<ref name=":28">{{Cite journal|last=Anghelescu|first=Hermina G. B.|date=2001|title=A Bit of History in the Library Attic|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/j105v25n04_07|journal=Collection Management|volume=25|issue=4|pages=61–75|doi=10.1300/j105v25n04_07|s2cid=60723329 |issn=0146-2679|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory and History of Graphic Narrative |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2015 |isbn=9783110427660 |editor-last=Stein |editor-first=Daniel |pages=310 |editor2-last=Thon |editor2-first=Jan-Noël}}</ref>{{sfn|Stone|2005|p=7}} [[Rick Prelinger]] noted that when a piece of ephemera is preserved, and greater value is placed upon it, the object then arguably stops being ephemera.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt45kdjb |title=Films that Work: Industrial Film and the Productivity of Media |date=2009 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-8964-013-0 |editor-last=Hediger |editor-first=Vinzenz |pages=51 |jstor=j.ctt45kdjb |editor-last2=Vonderau |editor-first2=Patrick}}</ref> Categorising types of ephemera has presented difficulties to fixed systems in [[library science]] and [[historiography]] due to the ambiguity of the kinds of items that might be included.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last=McDowell|first=Paula|date=2012|title=Of Grubs and Other Insects: Constructing the Categories of "Ephemera" and "Literature" in Eighteenth-Century British Writing|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/488252|journal=Book History|volume=15|issue=1|pages=48–70|doi=10.1353/bh.2012.0009|s2cid=143553893 |issn=1529-1499|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":9" /> A piece of ephemera's purpose, field of use and geography are among the various elements relevant to its categorisation.<ref>{{Citation|last=Massip|first=Catherine|title=Ephemera|date=2020-10-01|url=http://oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190616922.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190616922-e-8|work=The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century|pages=168–188|editor-last=Watt|editor-first=Paul|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190616922.013.8|isbn=978-0-19-061692-2|access-date=2021-12-11|editor2-last=Collins|editor2-first=Sarah|editor3-last=Allis|editor3-first=Michael|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Challenges pertaining to ephemera include determining its creator, purpose, date and location of origin and impact thereof.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|last=Reichard|first=David A.|date=2012|title=Animating Ephemera through Oral History: Interpreting Visual Traces of California Gay College Student Organizing from the 1970s|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/471290|journal=Oral History Review|volume=39|issue=1|pages=37–60|doi=10.1093/ohr/ohs042 |issn=1533-8592|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{Sfn|Weaver|2010|p=6}} Determining its worth in a present context, distinct from its perhaps obscured purpose, is also of interest.{{Sfn|Eliot|Rose|2019|p=634}} The breadth of printed ephemera is vast and varied, often eluding simple definition.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Russell |first=Gillian |date=2015 |title=Sarah Sophia Banks's Private Theatricals: Ephemera, Sociability, and the Archiving of Fashionable Life |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/584625 |journal=Eighteenth-Century Fiction |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=535–555 |doi=10.3138/ecf.27.3.535 |issn=1911-0243 |s2cid=162841068|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":18">{{Cite journal |last=Stone |first=Richard |date=1998 |title=Junk mail: Printed ephemera and preservation of the everyday |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14443059809387406 |journal=Journal of Australian Studies |volume=22 |issue=58 |pages=99–106 |doi=10.1080/14443059809387406 |issn=1444-3058|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Librarians often conflate ephemera with [[grey literature]] whereas collectors often broaden the scope and definition of ephemera.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marcum |first=James W. |date=2006 |title=Ephemeral Knowledge in the Visual Ecology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42978851 |journal=Counterpoints |volume=231 |pages=89–106 |jstor=42978851 |issn=1058-1634}}</ref>{{Sfn|Eliot|Rose|2019|p=637}} [[José Esteban Muñoz]] considered the characteristics of ephemera to be subversion and social experience; [[Alison Byerly]] described ephemera as the response to cultural trends.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Muñoz|first=José Esteban|date=1996-01-01|title=Ephemera as Evidence: Introductory Notes to Queer Acts|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/07407709608571228|journal=Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory|volume=8|issue=2|pages=5–16|doi=10.1080/07407709608571228|issn=0740-770X|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":17">{{cite journal |last=Byerly |first=Alison |date=2009 |title=What not to save: The future of ephemera. |url=http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/legacy/mit6/papers/Byerly.pdf |journal= |pages=45–49}}</ref> Wasserman, who defined ephemera as "objects destined for disappearance or destruction", categorised the following as ephemera:{{sfn|Wasserman|2020|p=2, 236|pp=2–3}} {{columns-list|colwidth=20em| * air transport labels * bank checks * bingo cards * bookmarks * broadsides * bus tickets * catalogs * envelopes * flyers * maps * menus * newspapers * pamphlets * paper dolls * postcards * receipts * sheet music * stamps * theater programs * ticket stubs * valentines}}Further items that have been categorised as ephemera include: posters, album covers, [[Minutes|meeting minutes]], buttons, stickers, financial records and personal memorabilia; announcements of events in a life, such as a birth, a death, a graduation or marriage, have been described as ephemera.<ref name=":28" /><ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ann|first=Cvetkovich|author-link=Ann Cvetkovich|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1139770505|title=An Archive of Feelings|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|year=2003|isbn=978-0-8223-8443-4|pages=243|oclc=1139770505}}</ref> Textual material, uniformly, could be considered ephemera.<ref name=":122"/> Artistic ephemera include sand paintings, sculptures composed of intentionally transient material, graffiti, and guerrilla art.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=London|first=Justin|date=2013|title=Ephemeral Media, Ephemeral Works, and Sonny Boy Williamson's "Little Village"|url=https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6245.2012.01540.x|journal=The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism|volume=71|issue=1|pages=45–53|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6245.2012.01540.x|issn=0021-8529|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Historically, there has been various categories of ephemera.<ref name=":192">{{Cite journal |last=Andrews |first=Martin J. |date=2006 |title=The stuff of everyday life: a brief introduction to the history and definition of printed ephemera |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/art-libraries-journal/article/abs/stuff-of-everyday-life-a-brief-introduction-to-the-history-and-definition-of-printed-ephemera/9DB2C34164B19D4C862818709AA79780 |journal=Art Libraries Journal |language=en |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=5–8 |doi=10.1017/S030747220001467X |issn=0307-4722 |s2cid=190490100|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Sfn|McAleer|MacKenzie|2015|p=150}} Genres may be defined by function or encompass and detail a specific item.<ref name=":122"/><ref name=":192" /> Over 500 categories are listed in ''The Encyclopedia of Ephemera'', ranging from the 18th to 20th century.<ref name=":17" /><ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last1=Altermatt|first1=Rebecca|last2=Hilton|first2=Adrien|date=2012|title=Hidden Collections within Hidden Collections: Providing Access to Printed Ephemera|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23290585|journal=The American Archivist|volume=75|issue=1|pages=171–194 |doi=10.17723/aarc.75.1.6538724k51441161 |jstor=23290585 |issn=0360-9081|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
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