A Community Site for Anyone and Everyone Interested in Ephemera

Tom Murphy's Blog (61)

Ephemera... the Source

The Wikipedia definition of Ephemera is "transitory written and printed matter" ... and that is what many of us, who have an interest in Ephemera focus on.

But backing up a step... we need to look at the source of much of that Ephemera... and a museum in North Andover, Massachusetts may well be the place to start. The Museum o… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on November 8, 2009 at 12:47pm — 2 Comments

Circopedia - All about the circus

If you have not yet visited Circopedia you are missing a fantastic site... especially if you have an interest in both the Circus and Ephemera.

Cirque d’Hiver
Located in the heart of Paris, between the Place de la République and the Place de la Bastille, at the edge of the historical Marais, the Cirque d’Hiver is the world’s oldest… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on July 18, 2009 at 5:12am — No Comments

Coffee Cards??

I wish I spoke French. I also wish I knew more about "Coffee Cards".

Perhaps our Network creator, Mike Ferguson, can give us a little background on just what Coffee Cards are, where they were popular, collect-ability etc. This site - http://bibigreycat.blogspot.com/ - seems to have a vast collection of t… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on July 5, 2009 at 5:50am — 1 Comment

The Chinese Honeymoon

We've been here before... but once again I am going to point you to "Tattered and Lost". This blog continues to grab my attention. The Chinese Honeymoon

Today I was looking at their posting on "The Chinese Honeymo… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on June 19, 2009 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

Society Sweet Scotch Snuff

I must admit, I had never heard of "Sweet Scotch Snuff" until today. But a quick search of Wikipedia tells me that "Snuff is ground or pulverized tobacco, which is generally inhaled or "snuffed" through the nose." That much of course I knew. What I did not know was that snuff basically comes in two versions... the (primarily) European version, which is dry and usually scented or flavored and is intended to be sniffed through the nose. And then there is moist snuff - oft… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on June 16, 2009 at 5:45am — 2 Comments

Now one new computer fills all your data processing needs

"... tailored to fit a small operation, a medium size company or a big nationwide company with many offices and plants. It's great on commercial problems... handles inventory management simulation, operations research, market forecasting and other problems more efficiently than ever before."

… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on June 9, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

The Wolfsonian Collection

Have you ever heard of the Wolfsonian Collection? To be honest, neither had I until today. And to think, it's located right here in my back yard.. Miami, Florida. Actually, Wolfsonian is a part of the Florida International University - It's a museum located in the heart of historic Miami Beach, within easy walking distance of the world-famous Art Deco hotels.… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on June 8, 2009 at 7:02am — 3 Comments

Ted Williams Hunting License Stolen At Knotty Pine

Ted Williams Just in case one of our members runs across this unique piece of ephemera, you should know that it was stolen at the end of last week from an auction site in New Hampshire.

As the auction website points out -

… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on June 2, 2009 at 2:53pm — No Comments

The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920

The Duke University Library has a very interesting exhibition currently on their website titled as is the title of this article.

The exhibit presents over 9,000 images, with database information, relating to the early history of advertising in the United States. The materials, drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University, provide a significant and informative perspective on the early evolution of this mos

… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on May 19, 2009 at 5:11am — No Comments

Fading of Negro Baseball Leagues In America

An article today in "Live Auction Talk" is about the Negro National Baseball League which offered blacks their only shot at playing organized ball in 1920.

The Negro League was a black monopoly that became the largest of its kind in the country. It was also one of the last times blacks controlled their own major league sports organizations.

… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on May 16, 2009 at 7:42am — 1 Comment

Tattered and Lost...

In my ongoing surfing of the web, I continue to run across some wonderful blogs about our favorite subject... Ephemera. Today I ran across Tattered and Lost, which unfortunately does not indicate who the author is. The site is about some of the items in or her collection which she says includes letters, postcards, menus, maga… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on May 9, 2009 at 6:23pm — 3 Comments

New Ben Franklin Ephemera uncovered

A recent article from CNN in London reveals that "an American professor doing research in London stumbled across a series of previously unknown letters written by, to, and about Benjamin Franklin". The find is reported in William and Mary Quarterly, a journal of early American history and culture. While the letters are hand-written… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on April 26, 2009 at 7:37pm — No Comments

The Evanion Collection

While surfing the net today I ran across an interesting blog called "Morbid Anatomy - Surveying the Interstices of Art and Medicine, Death and Culture". I've not investigated the site fu… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on February 27, 2009 at 5:05am — No Comments

Dreams of Space...

Are you interested in Space? How about Space Ephemera? John Sisson, a biology librarian out of California has a rather new blog entitled "Dreams of Space - Books and Ephemera". He tells us in his blog that he has been collecting children's non-fiction books about space flight for some 19 years, and has lots of Ephemera… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on February 27, 2009 at 5:04am — 2 Comments

A Coward and a Scoundrel

In today's society, disputes between neighbors, work associates, friends and even politicians, sometime take on an ugly tone. Drugs often play a part in it, and with the increase in gun ownership, these disputes can sometimes turn deadly. Back in the day (we're talking the 1830's), when one man failed to apologize to another, or to give him the satisfaction which an honorable man was bound to give, he was called a Coward and a Scoundrel... and public notice of such was made for a… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on February 18, 2009 at 1:30am — 1 Comment

The climate of the earth is divided into three zones

Here's an interesting Broadside I found recently on the Internet - published in 1938 by Scientific Living out of Sebring, Florida. The three zones referred to are Tropical, Temperate and Frigid. "The Tropical is… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on February 17, 2009 at 6:44pm — No Comments

Happy Valentine's Day !

Given that today is Valentine's Day, I thought it would be a good time to look for some Ephemera specifically related to the day.. and share it with you. It didn't take me long to come up with a wonderful collection of Valentine's Day cards collected by a fellow named Dave. He goes by the odd name of "riptheskull" on Flic… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on February 14, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

Sniff Kit...

A recent post about War Rationing Ephemera got me interested in researching a bit more about items from the Second World War. Another post I made about Florida related ephemera led me State Archives of Florida where I discovered a number of wonderful Ephemera items... such as this "… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on February 9, 2009 at 5:50am — 1 Comment

Six Tips to Preserve Your Election Collections

IMLS This is the lead paragraph from a Press Release by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Washington, DC—Across the nation, Americans are saving newspapers, posters, buttons, and bumper stickers to commemorate the historic election and inauguratio

… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on February 3, 2009 at 9:55am — No Comments

Encore-Ephemera joins AVCOSA

Palm Beach Gardens, FL - January 28, 2009 - Encore-Ephemera (www.encore-ephemera.com), a leading source for vintage advertising and transitory written and printed matter announced today that it has joined the Antiques, Vintage & Collectibles Online Sellers Association (AVCOSA). We look forward to sharing ideas, information and resources relative to the Ephemera… Continue

Added by Tom Murphy on January 29, 2009 at 12:30am — No Comments