An Introduction to Collecting Ephemera: Old Paper Items Are a Valuable Source of History and Are Very Collectible

Ephemera. Most people don't know what I am talking about when I use the word. But it's really a much simpler word than it seems.

Chances are you already own some ephemera. If you have saved tickets from rock concerts and baseball games, then you own ephemera. If you still have your grade school report cards, then you own ephemera. If your mother didn't throw out your baseball card collection, then you own ephemera.

Ephemera is the plural of ephemeron and refers to items designed to be useful or important for only a short time.¹ Originally, the word referred to a fever that lasted only one day and was then extended to insects and plants that lasted only one day.² For the purposes of this article, ephemera refers to paper items meant to last only a short period of time. These include advertisements, baseball cards, bookmarks, broadsides, concert tickets, greeting cards, magazines, maps, newspapers, photographs, postcards, sheet music, trade catalogs, etc.

What if you want to be more than an accidental ephemera collector? How do you go about it? Where do you find old paper items? What are they worth?

When starting out as an ephemera collector, it is best to proceed with caution, as it is whenever you are a novice collector of anything. I entered the world of ephemera, through the back door. When you buy and sell books for a living as I do, it is hard not to notice antiquarian paper items.

I began by saving everything I found in books. I found vintage bookmarks, the occasional baseball card, letters, postcards and other items. People grab anything to use as a bookmark. While many of the items I found were worthless, some were valuable. I once found a nice pamphlet put out by the Freedman's Bureau, a department of the United States government set up to help the slaves right after they were freed. By the way, items found in books are called flyaways.