A Bit of History in the Library Attic

Abstract

This paper discusses what ephemera is-an item usually printed on a single sheet of paper, possibly on one side, sometimes on both, so that it may be folded several times to appear like a booklet-and within this context the significance of library-generated ephemera, librarians, is considered. The usefulness of ephemera is limited, since it was created to serve a certain purpose, and to be discarded afterwards. It is obvious that the library and archives community have begun to become aware of the research relevance of ephemera. It is nevertheless an extremely laborious endeavor to collect, preserve, and organize an ephemera collection in order to make it available to researchers. The information carried by the ephemeral items can add significantly to the data the historian draws from other sources. Ephemeral material has intrinsic and evidential value, but not enough to enable the researcher to reconstruct completely a slice of institutional history. The historian needs to consider a variety of other sources. Only in conjunction with these sources can the ephemeral material acquire outstanding research meaning.

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