Editing Ephemera (section)

== Collecting ==
[[file:Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases - British Ministry of Health.jpg|thumb|20th-century ephemera from the UK |alt=British Ministry of Health poster.]]
Ephemera has long been substantially collected, both with and without intention, presevering what may be the only remaining reproductions.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Slate |first=John H. |date=2001 |title=Not Fade Away |url=https://doi.org/10.1300/J105v25n04_06 |journal=Collection Management |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=51–59 |doi=10.1300/J105v25n04_06 |issn=0146-2679 |s2cid=57187993|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":32" />{{Sfn|Stone|2005|p=13}} [[Victorian era|Victorian]] families pasted their [[collecting|collections]] of ephemera, acquiring the likes of scraps and trade cards, in scrapbooks whereas Georgian curators thoroughly archived ephemera.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Snyder|first=Terry|date=2014|title=Spectacular Ephemera|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/trajincschped.24.1-2.0101|journal=Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy|volume=24|issue=1–2|pages=101–109|jstor=10.5325/trajincschped.24.1-2.0101 |issn=1052-5017}}</ref>{{sfn|Field|2019|p=81}} It was a private endeavour, with little outward cultural presence, although an eminent interpersonal function.{{sfn|Zieger|2018|p=2}} [[Cigarette card]]s were widely collected, by-design.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Salmon|first=Richard|date=2020|title=Consuming Ephemera|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/764107|journal=Criticism|volume=62|issue=1|pages=151–155|doi=10.13110/criticism.62.1.0151 |s2cid=235488621 |issn=1536-0342|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{sfn|MacKenzie|1984|p=17}}{{efn|In an overview of ephemera, Rickards and Lambert wrote that the specification of cigarette cards as collectable means they should not be classified as ephemera, though rarely is this distinction acknowledged.<ref name=":16" />}}

Contemporarily, institutions have attempted to preserve digital ephemera, although problems may exist in regards to scope and interest.<ref name=":17" /><ref name=":26" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Doster |first=Adam |date=2016 |title=Saving Digital Ephemera |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24604193 |journal=American Libraries |volume=47 |issue=1/2 |pages=18 |issn=0002-9769 |jstor=24604193}}</ref> Ephemera has been considered for curation since the 1970s, due in part to collectors, at which point [[Learned society|societies]], [[professional association]]s and publications regarding ephemera arose.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Kai Alexis |date=2016 |title=Digitizing Ephemera Reloaded: A Digitization Plan for an Art Museum Library |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/688732 |journal=Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=329–338 |doi=10.1086/688732 |issn=0730-7187 |s2cid=113743222|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Haug">{{Cite journal |last=Haug |first=Mary-Elise |date=1995 |title=The Life Cycle of Printed Ephemera: A Case Study of the Maxine Waldron and Thelma Mendsen Collections |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4618482 |journal=Winterthur Portfolio |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=59–72 |doi=10.1086/wp.30.1.4618482 |issn=0084-0416 |jstor=4618482 |s2cid=163616019|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Although ephemera is a global occurrence, interest is chiefly present in Britain and America.<ref name=":16" />{{Sfnm|1a1=Weaver|1y=2010|1pp=34–35|1p=2|2a1=Blum|2y=2019|2p=xix}} Ephemera collections can be idiosyncratic, sequential and difficult to peruse.<ref name=":17" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Bashford |first=Christina |date=2008 |title=Writing (British) Concert History: The Blessing and Curse of Ephemera |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/232019 |journal=Notes |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=458–473 |doi=10.1353/not.2008.0023 |issn=1534-150X |s2cid=162396585|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Multiple scholars articulated a connection to the past, such as [[nostalgia]], as a key motivation for ephemera collecting.<ref name=":17" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Giannachi|first=Gabriella|url=http://mitpress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7551/mitpress/9780262035293.001.0001/upso-9780262035293|title=Archive Everything: Mapping the Everyday|date=2016|publisher=The MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-03529-3|pages=76|language=en|doi=10.7551/mitpress/9780262035293.001.0001}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite journal |last=Burant |first=Jim |date=1995 |title=Ephemera, Archives, and Another View of History |url=https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12105 |journal=Archivaria |language=en |volume=40 |pages=189–198 |issn=1923-6409}}</ref>{{Sfn|Weaver|2010|p=135, 188}} Such a connection has been described as evocative and atmospheric; the memory as [[Collective memory|collective]] and [[Cultural memory|cultural]]; the nostalgia as [[Populism|populist]] and the ephemera associated with melancholy.<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal|last=Mussell|first=James|date=2012|title=The Passing of Print|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2011.637666|journal=Media History|volume=18|issue=1|pages=77–92|doi=10.1080/13688804.2011.637666|s2cid=161174759 |issn=1368-8804}}</ref><ref name=":18" /><ref name=":192"/>{{Sfn|Stone|2005|p=13}}{{Sfn|Wasserman|2020|p=230}} Aesthetics, academic advancement and existential [[ephemerality]] have also been seen as motivation.<ref name=":32" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tschabrun |first=Susan |date=2003 |title=Off the Wall and into a Drawer: Managing a Research Collection of Political Posters |journal=The American Archivist |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=303–324 |doi=10.17723/aarc.66.2.x482536031441177 |jstor=40294235 |issn=0360-9081|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Raine |first=Henry |date=2017 |title=From Here to Ephemerality: Fugitive Sources in Libraries, Archives, and Museums: The 48th Annual RBMS Preconference |url=https://rbm.acrl.org/index.php/rbm/article/view/293 |journal=RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage |language=en-US |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=14–17 |doi=10.5860/rbm.9.1.293|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Academia ===
The study of print ephemera has seen much contention; various viewpoints and interpretations have been proposed from scholars, with comparisons to [[folklore studies]] and popular culture studies, due to the invoking of "remembrance and echoed retellings" and contending that which is more prestigious, respectively.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":18" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Randall |first=David |date=2004 |title=Recent Studies in Print Culture: News, Propaganda, and Ephemera |journal=Huntington Library Quarterly |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=457–472 |doi=10.1525/hlq.2004.67.3.457 |issn=0018-7895 |jstor=10.1525/hlq.2004.67.3.457}}</ref> Literature around ephemera concern its production, varieties: trade cards, broadside ballads, chapbooks, almanacs, and newspapers; scholars predominately examine ephemera post-19th century due to greater quantities thereof.<ref name=":22" />{{sfn|Suarez|Turner|2010|p=68}}<ref name=":25">{{Cite journal |last1=Vareschi |first1=Mark |last2=Burkert |first2=Mattie |date=2016 |title=Archives, Numbers, Meaning: The Eighteenth-Century Playbill at Scale |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/645398 |journal=Theatre Journal |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=597–613 |doi=10.1353/tj.2016.0108 |issn=1086-332X |s2cid=151711494|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A significant amount of scholars have been collectors, archivists and amateurs, particularly at the inception of ephemera studies, a now burgeoning academic field.{{sfn|Russell|2020|p=3}}<ref name=":33">{{Cite book |last1=Sèbe |first1=Berny |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780429029363/decolonising-europe-berny-s%C3%A8be-matthew-stanard |title=Decolonising Europe?: Popular Responses to the End of Empire |last2=Stanard |first2=Matthew G. |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2020 |isbn=9780429029363 |pages=201 |doi=10.4324/9780429029363 |s2cid=216189182}}</ref>{{sfn|Iskin|Salsbury|2019|p=118}} Digitisation of ephemera has provided accessibility and spurred renewed interest, following the "few writings" present at the start of the 21st century.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":27">{{Cite journal |last=Hadley |first=Nancy |date=2001 |title=Access and Description of Visual Ephemera |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/j105v25n04_05 |journal=Collection Management |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=39–50 |doi=10.1300/j105v25n04_05 |issn=0146-2679 |s2cid=62713439|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":24">{{Cite journal |last=Lambert |first=Julie Anne |date=2017 |title=Immortalizing the Mayfly: Permanent Ephemera: An Illusion or a (Virtual) Reality? |url=https://rbm.acrl.org/index.php/rbm/article/view/304 |journal=RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=142–156 |doi=10.5860/rbm.9.1.304|doi-access=free }}</ref>

As a source, ephemera has been widely accepted.<ref name=":192"/> Ephemera has been credited with illustrating social dynamics, including daily life, communication, social mobility and the enforcement of social norms.<ref name=":122"/><ref name=":192"/> Furthermore, varied cultures from differing groups can be assessed via ephemera.<ref name=":122"/><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":192"/>{{Sfn|Zieger|2018|p=22}}{{efn|Following the [[California Gold Rush]] of 1849, by means of visual ephemera, the citizens of San Francisco, regardless of race or class, "were exposed to one another".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lippert|first=Amy DeFalco|url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190268978.001.0001/oso-9780190268978|title=Consuming Identities|date=2018|volume=1 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-026897-8|pages=319|language=en|doi=10.1093/oso/9780190268978.001.0001}}</ref>}} Ephemera, to Rickards, documents "the other side of history...[which] contains all sorts of human qualities that would otherwise be edited out".<ref name=":33" />