ephemera

eBay Seller Stupidity Chronicled in Facebook Group

The following is a real message left recently in a Facebook Group dedicated to paper collectibles:

"So I had this 200 Yuan Chinese note from 1944 that had some anti-Japanese propaganda from WW2. Put it on eBay at a really low price, thinking ephemera lovers would jack up the bidding. Didn't happen. Sold for $0.99! After it was all said and done, I finally thought to look at a currency conversion table. 200 Yuan is about $29 US. Sigh."

The post was titled "Stupidity" by its creator.

I can appreciate the writer's pain: There are a few auction items I'd like to have back, too.

If you want to share your eBay ephemera moment of "Do'h" with the Facebook audience, please join my Facebook group and write a comment on the Wall. Or, simply comment on this post right here.

(Note: To save the author of the message from any unwanted embarrassment or publicity, I consciously did not link to the post or provided the name of the writer.)

Photograph by Brad & Sabrina.

Brooklyn Public Library Blog Interview

Joy Holland is one of the blog team members at the Brooklyn Public Library. The library publishes a blog called Brooklynology, which focuses heavily on ephemera and historical documents related to Brooklyn. Joy was born in the UK, but has lived in Brooklyn for about 17 years. Librarianship is her third career, after teaching and publishing. In the following interview, we discussed the emergence and significance of Brooklynology.

ephemera: Tell me about Brooklynology. How did the blog take shape?

Holland: The blog is a way to alert our public to the Brooklyn Collection's materials and new acquisitions, and to have a voice in the online community that focuses on Brooklyn's history and neighborhoods. It also allows us as librarians who spend our professional lives helping others with their research projects, to follow the thread of our own thought, if only for the length of a blog post. That's incredibly satisfying and quite a morale booster.  Also, I might add, that it's a relatively inexpensive way to reach out to potential library patrons and to spread the word about our resources. And we didn't even start talking about our extensive online resources yet in our blog posts.

ephemera: It's a great read. How do you see it evolving? What role does ephemera play in its development?

Holland: We didn't even begin to scratch the surface yet. There's a blog post in almost every piece of paper we touch. In regard to the ephemera items in particular, they allow for a very close, visceral kind of access to the everyday lives of the people who lived here before us. You are touching an object--a ticket, a catalog, whatever--that connects you to its former owner, even if you don't know who that was; an object that gives you a hundred little clues about the particular quality of the experience, through its typeface, the texture of the paper, the style of illustration, the text itself. Our ephemera collection touches on almost every aspect of life in the city from entertainment to health care to manufacturing to the restaurant and food industry and beyond.

ephemera: I hope that other libraries will follow suit. It's a brilliant concept. What challenges do you face in publishing it?

Holland: There is no shortage of materials already in the collection for our blog. This collection was started in the 1950s and it continues to grow. In the current economic climate the library is seeing some draconian budget cuts which will undoubtedly affect our ability to acquire new materials in the short term. However, we are fortunate to have a small income from the reproduction and licensing of our photograph collections, which can be used for acquisitions in an emergency. Also people are sometimes kind enough to give us things.

ephemera: What are some of your favorite posts?

Holland: I love the trade catalogs and have been slowly building our collection of them over the past few years. The illustrations are often beautiful and they speak to the vitality of Brooklyn's industrial base. I also love the weird special vocabularies that attach to specific trades, and the items used in trades that don't exist any more, or at least not in the same way. For example when horse culture was replaced by car culture, all kinds of businesses that were a common part of the urban experience like blacksmiths and livery stables and grooms were replaced by mechanics and garages and car washes. I have a catalog of curry combs from a business in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, published in 1914, with over fifty different designs of combs in it.  Published two years later was a catalog of car horns. We know now which business had a better future.

But there are four of us at the moment contributing to the blog and I'm sure you'd get an entirely different answer from each of us. Blog team profiles: Olivia is our archivist; June, our outreach librarian, has been doing interesting research on African American history in Brooklyn; Leslie runs a program for 8th graders funded by the New York Life Foundation; and I am the Division Chief.

ephemera: What resources do you recommend for people interested in Brooklyn ephemera?

Holland: I'd recommend first of all going to the Brooklyn Public Library web site and clicking on the Brooklyn Collection link on the left. From there you can look at a variety of collections including the Fulton Street Trade Card Collection and the Brooklyn Sheet Music Collection as well as about 14,000 of our photographs. You can also access the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online. The Eagle was Brooklyn's newspaper of record from 1841 to 1955 and we were able to digitize the first 60 years thanks to a National Leadership Grant from the IMLS and matching funds from Brooklyn Public Library. It can illuminate almost any aspect of Brooklyn's history, and it also reported on national and international news.

ephemera: Thank you, Joy.

Alphabetilately Exhibit Comes to Smithsonian

ALPHABET + PHILATELY or Alphabetilately is the alphabet of philately. The Smithsonian National Postal Museum is sponsoring a major exhibit called "Alphabetilately" that uses alphabet poster stamps, ephemera, and other treasures to broadly interpret various aspects of stamp collecting or sending mail.

According to the Smithsonian Web site, "Each of the 26 letters stands for some aspect of the collecting of stamps or the sending of mail. The stamps, ephemera, and artifacts exhibited in Alphabetilately graphically document the spectrum of the American experience, from historical subjects to popular culture, from actual events to important ideas. Alphabetilately is a universally appealing exhibition and a lively educational experience for visitors of every age. It provides an extraordinary showcase for selections from our unparalleled collection of American postal and philatelic history."

The exhibit will run until October 15, 2009, and then it will tour nationally.

For more about Alphabetilately, read my interview with California-based artist and stamp collector, Bill Senkus, an expert on the subject of Alphabetilately.

Discovery of Italian and German American WWII Internees

According to a news item in the Winter Issue of Ephemera News, Richard Sheaff has published an article in the December issue of American Philatelist that tells the story of his research into an unstamped 1947 envelope marked "Free Civil Internees Mail." In research prompted by the envelope, Sheaff found there were 11,000 American-born Germans and 3,000 Italian Americans confined to detention camps. The story of naturalized citizens of Japan being interned is well known, but Sheaff sheds light on this lesser known phenomenon. The Ephemera News pieces goes on to say, "The return address on Sheaff's envelope was the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Ellis Island, NY. He's fond other from a camp at Crystal City, TX.

"One reason this whole subject has remained relatively unknown," Sheaff wrote in his article, is that the U.S. Government required internees to sign secrecy oaths before being released, under threat of deportation for speaking of their experiences. Most kept quiet."

Sheaff's research was sparked by the discovery of an old envelope. In some ways, Sheaff's mysterious WWII envelope is similar to the envelope I found (tucked inside an old book) address to the controversial figure, author, and diplomat Lawerence Dennis, which included an incriminating return address sticker from the America First Committee, a group Lawerence was alleged to be involved with.

Perhaps a savvy researcher will pick up on this historical trail of intrigue...

I've written several other posts about the mysterious Lawrence Dennis and the ephemera I found of his inside a book that once belonged to the legendary figure:

• The Romanian King & Lawrence Dennis
• S.S. Normandie Postcard
• Dennis' Uraguay Postcard
• Invitation to Dennis from King Ferdinand

 

 

American Periodical Collector Steven Lomazow

Steven Lomazow, M.D. is a neurologist practicing in New Jersey. He has been collecting American periodicals and other paper memorabilia for over thirty years and has written extensively on the subject. He is a member of the American Antiquarian Society, consultant to the Newseum in Washington, and is presently co-authoring a book about new discoveries in the health of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Steve took time out of his busy schedule to tell me about his magazine collection.

ephemera: How did you become interested in old magazines?

Lomazow: My interest in collecting magazines dovetails with an interest in the history of American popular culture. I started in this area while in medical school in Chicago. Initially, my goal was to get the first issue of every major American magazine. This branched out into collecting any first issue or first volume I could find and, eventually, anything important ever published in an American magazine.

My interest was initiated when I walked into the now long-defunct Acme Bookstore on Clark Street in Chicago. I came in looking for antiquarian medical books--I bought a beautiful atlas--and saw the first issue of Life and Look. The February 1937 Look issue has Herman Goering on the cover and when I looked inside it said "volume 1 number 2", despite ample documentation that it was indeed the "first issue". When I inquired of the proprietor--a thin man named Roy--about what happened to "volume 1 number 1" said he didn't know. I was hooked. It took fifteen years to find the answer. It was a larger, very fragile issue, essentially a "dummy" mocked up for internal use of the publisher in Des Moines, Iowa. My then "holy grail". I obtained one at great expense in the late eighties and have only seen (and owned) one other of this truly ephemeral magazine.

ephemera: That's a great story. It sums up, I think, what makes collectors tick—the passion, curiosity, thirst for knowledge, and mystery of ephemera. Tell me about the challenges you encounter as you pursue items for your collection.

Lowazow: As many collectors, I started with stamps and coins. When this became inevitably stalemated due to increasing expense and lack of interesting material, I came upon magazines, which are inexpensive, unlimited and uncatalogued. Instead of filling the spaces in empty album pages, I made my own "albums"- A far more interesting, instructive and creative pursuit. My greatest challenge is keeping focused on my primary interest and not diluting my resources in other areas. The internet has been a great supplement to attending book and paper fairs. It is still quite possible to get a "collector's high" from an item that costs only a few dollars. For example, I am very excited about an extremely rare1927 humor magazine I just obtained for under thirty dollars.

ephemera: Among the magazines in your collection, which are your favorite?

Lowazow: I have so many favorites it's hard to choose. My latest passion is trying to obtain the first issue of every pulp magazine ever published. The universe of pulps is about a thousand titles, and currently, I'm less than one hundred and seventy five short of my goal. It is doubtful I'll ever get much closer but it's a lot of fun trying. I talk a lot about many other of my favorites on my blog.

ephemera: That's a great quest. You'll have to send us a line as you get closer to the goal. It'd be fascinating to hear of the final 100 or 50 or 10 that you're seeking. Speaking of quests, what resources do you recommend for people interested in collecting old magazines?

Lowazow: Good resources about collecting magazines are very sparse. The union list of serials and the five volume history by Frank Luther Mott are a starting point but only just that. Dealers like Richard West of Periodyssey in Northampton, Massachusetts can be quite helpful. Internet search engines are probably the best overall. Of course my book, American Periodicals: A Collector's Manual and Reference Guide, written in 1996, is the single most comprehensive tome on the subject. I've also put together a catalog of the acquisitions I've made in the last ten years as a supplement.

ephemera: Thank you, Steven.

Search Abebooks for the books listed in this interview.

Ephemera 29 is Coming in March

The Ephemera Society will once again host its annual conference: Ephemera/29 will take place March 20-22. This year's theme is "ephemera of communications". Under that umbrella, according to the Society's Ephemera News Winter Issue, are nine separate presentations. The keynote speech will given by Robert Bogdan, who I interviewed on this blog. Bogdan will talk about the resurrection of real photo postcards, which is what we discussed during our blog interview.

A Year in Ashe...

By Marty Weil

Book Preview

Through the three-day event there will be ephemera exhibits as well as live forums that allow you to mingle and interact with fellow collectors and learn about their specific interests.

The conference also features what many believe to be the finest ephemera fair with more than 80 dealers from around the country. So, if you're in the Northeast in March, where the weather is sure to a delight, check out Ephemera/29.

Hopp vs. City of Los Angeles

Richard Hopp, a self-proclaimed collector of books, documents, and ephemera, recently filed a civil suit in the Los Angeles Superior Court requesting declaratory relief to determine the validity of City ordinances and seeking an injunction restricting the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Police Department, and other City agencies from prohibiting enforcement and criminal prosecution of Mr. Hopp's collecting and hobby activities.

Hopp collects ephemera for his personal use, according to his press release. He does not hold himself out as a business or occupation with regard to his collecting and hobby activities. Hopp actively promotes his collecting and hobby and through advertising in many publications, on websites, and various similar public notices. He attends flea markets, swap meets, trade shows, garage sales, and collector meetings. Hopp is not in business as a secondhand book dealer, pawnshop, pawn broker, or seller of any kind of books, documents, and ephemera. He merely collects and seeks to reach a larger audience with regard to the items and subjects in which he has an interest.

LA apparently doesn't see it Hopp's way.

According to Hopp's Web site, "The City has enacted a series of ordinances as part of the Municipal Code for the City of Los Angeles relating to the regulation of secondhand book dealers and secondhand dealers businesses which the City seeks to enforce against Hopp. The employees of the City and the Los Angeles Police Department have arbitrarily stated that he is a secondhand book dealer and as such is a business, thus requiring him maintain a local police permit and license as a business. City of Los Angeles considers his collecting and hobby activates as an unpermitted and unlicensed business and that will lead to his being subjected to arrest and prosecution. The California Department of Justice and the City of Los Angeles, Office of Finance has made written determinations and conclusions that he is neither a business nor an occupation, thus not required to obtain any license or permit for his collecting and hobby activities. These unwarranted actions by City employees subject Hopp and others like him to potential criminal prosecution and is a violation and interference of free exercise of his right guaranteed under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and applicable sections of the California Constitution. The City refuses Hopp any administrative hearings or public consideration."

Welcome Dark Roasted Blend Readers

Welcome readers of Dark Roasted Blend. Avi was kind to mention my blog and feature a few items of mine in his World's Most Curious Ephemera post today.

If you're in search of more curious and wonderful ephemera, check out these links:

• Lincoln Park Traps: What Really Happened
• Vintage Cookbook Aesthetics
• The Smell of Old Hardware Stores
• Chevy Chase Club
• Personal To Fat Girls

To enjoy a steady stream of "curious" ephemera, please subscribe to my FREE feed.

Rosemary Jones Co-Author of Encyclopedia of Collectible Children's Books

Rosemary Jones is the co-author of the Encyclopedia of Collectible Children's Books: Identification and Values and also writes novels for Wizards of the Coast. In the following interview, we discuss her book and her thoughts on ephemera.

ephemera: How did you become interested in collectible children's books?

Jones: I grew up in a house with a mix of old and new books (my co-author is my mother Diane Jones). These days, my interests tend towards the highly illustrated books of early 20th-century and the fantasy and science fiction of the mid-20th century. Diane's collection has more series books, such as Nancy Drew and similar series authored by Mildred Wirt, one of the original Nancy authors. We're both huge fans of Oz books and have multiple editions of our favorite titles in that series. We are fairly eclectic collectors, less interested in first editions than finding books that entertain us. Which is how we end up with fun items like the Bubble Book, an early phonograph/book combination.

ephemera: How did your interest turn into a book project?

Jones: We started writing about our collections about ten years ago. Last year, our publisher, Collector Books, asked us to create one large encyclopedia based on our earlier books. This became the Encyclopedia of Collectible Children's Books.

ephemera: Tell me about the book. What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in writing it? How do you overcome these challenges?

Jones: For the Encyclopedia, our biggest challenge was our back-up disks. Like any good author, we'd carefully kept copies of all our previous manuscripts, only to find many of disks were no longer compatible with our current computers.  With the help of a few tech-savvy friends, we were able to retrieve most of the information, but we were glad that we'd kept hard copies of notes too! Now, we plan to upgrade our back-ups whenever we upgrade our computers.

ephemera: What are your favorite items in the book? What do they tell us about the world of children's books?

Jones: It's so tough to pick a favorite. What's the most enchanting part of writing a book like this is seeing other people's reactions. Friends will pick up a copy from the coffee table and start leafing through it. Immediately, they will spot a memory from their childhood. I just spent an evening discussing the Lone Ranger and Tom Corbett with a friend's husband. A number of wonderful people lent us items from their collections to photograph. I think that is why most people collect, to evoke a certain memory or feeling. 

In December, I pull out all the Christmas books in my collection and they are always fun to read again. These books are not the most valuable things in my collection, but the monetary value of books and other ephemera is secondary to the pleasure that I get from reading the stories or looking at the pictures. The history of books like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer also interests me. Although most people know this story best from the TV show, the book actually came first and was an advertising piece created for Marshall Fields in Chicago.

ephemera: I'm also a fan of books about books. It's a fascinating topic. What resources do you recommend for people interested in ephemera or collecting in general?

Jones: I subscribe to the magazine Fine Books and also pick up copies of Firsts when that magazine focuses on authors that I collect. But nothing really substitutes for just seeing items, whether it is visiting museum collections or going to antique shows or visiting friend's collections. The more you see, the better feel you get for items, their rarity, the value, and so on. I can usually tell the approximate decade when a book was printed just by looking at the cover, the paper, and the typeface. To me, it seems very obvious, simply because I've handled so many books over the years.

ephemera: Thank you, Rosemary.

Search Abebooks for the books listed in this interview.

Top Magazines for Ephemera Collectors

In the past, I've written a posts about popular and important books for ephemera collectors. Today, I'm featuring some of the better magazine titles in ephemera sub-genres, such as comic books, stamps, and currency.

Not only do magazines provide a more up-to-the-minute snapshot of what's happening, they can also be a more informal and engaging way to enjoy your collecting niche. The following titles have been mentioned by some of the authors and collectors I've interviewed recently.

• Numismatic News
• Coin World
• Antiques & Collecting Magazine
• Comics Buyer's Guide
• Record Collector
• Fine Books & Collections
• Banknote Reporter

What is your favorite collecting magazine?