The New Zealand Society of Ephemerists
A guest post by Lawrence Roberts, president of the New Zealand Society of Ephemerist.
An unknown but undoubtedly large quantity of valuable ephemera is damaged or discarded each year in New Zealand. Individuals and organizations who own the material often don't understand its value and dispose of it. Sometimes it is offered to institutions for a price, or for free, and on occasions the offer is declined. A few of the country's top institutions are struggling with the volume of material they are offered and have to be selective about what they are able to receive and what can be done with it.
It is in this context that a group of ephemera collectors have formed a society to actively promote the identification, collection (public and private), conservation, digitization, documentation and study of ephemera from a New Zealand standpoint. One means of doing this is the publication of a biannual journal The NZ Ephemerist. Whilst the study of ephemera in New Zealand is established, it is hoped that the journal will provide a new focus for discoveries, the exchange of ideas, news, and views. The main focus of the journal is New Zealand ephemera but other material will be included from time to time. The New Zealand Society of Ephemerists companion website also provides a continuing forum for the exchange of information and ideas.
Anyone interested in seeing how the first ever copy of our journal The NZ Ephemerist (published in September of this year) turned out can download a copy from the website—look for the tab at the top right which says The Journal and click on "Issue 1".
