ephemera

Meiji Map of Tokyo 19th Century

The Japanese have a far different take on cartography than we know from mapmakers in the West. Take for instance this hand-colored 1891 Meiji map of Tokyo. Antique Japanese maps draw on the country's papermaking and woodblock printing tradition. This fascinating map of Tokyo was issued as a pocket map and provides details down to the street level.

When I worked for Panasonic in the 1980s, I was promised a trip to Japan that never came to fruition. When I saw this beautiful, vividly color antique map of Toyko, it reminded me of that missed opportunity. It's a shame that promise wasn't kept. I wonder if I'll ever visit Toyko or anywhere in Asia for that matter. Conversely, Panasonic found it necessary to send me to Detroit--for three weeks-- in February.

International Year of the Potato Swiss Stamp

Good news, friends: Switzerland has issued a postage stamp to commemorate 2008, the International Year of the Potato!

According to the folks at the International Potato Center, the 85 cent stamp is available until March 31, 2008.

The 28 x 33 mm stamp is featured on a double-page spread in the January issue of Swisspost’s Focus on Stamps; the Collector’s Magazine. The article notes that “it is not just in Switzerland that the potato ensures people have a sustaining, varied diet. It is planted all over the world. At the global level, the potato is one of the most-planted foods … thus contributing to ensuring food security and poverty reduction worldwide. To pay tribute to the potato’s key role, the UN General Assembly has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato, so Swiss Post is issuing a stamp in its honor.”

So, go eat a potato. They're yummy.

Lottery Ticket - The Stupid Tax

Even back in the 19th century, people in Virginia were buying state-sponsored lottery tickets like this one.

An old friend, a Ph.D from Chicago, calls the lottery the "Stupid Tax". And while that may be a little harsh--you know how cranky Ph.D's can be--he does have a point. Even if you have the good sense to know that the lottery odds are so long as to make your wager almost as silly as clicking your heels together and making a Dorothyesque wish, it can be fun to play. People do win. In fact, a long time ago, when the big prize in the Illinois Lotto had reached $6 million (considered big dough in the days before multi-state games), a second cousin of mine hit five out of six numbers. He won $1,500. Ironically, he was the CEO of huge corporation,earning mega bucks, and had virtually no use for the extra cash, except maybe to gas-up his Porche.

I wonder if he's still paying the Stupid Tax these days? I'd wager he is, but then I might push 'all in' with A6. Now that's really stupid.

President McKinley Ephemera Collector Thomas Horrocks Interview

Thomas A. Horrocks holds a doctorate in American History from the University of Pennsylvania and is Associate Librarian of Houghton Library for Collections at Harvard University. In the following interview, we discussed his fascinating collection of President William McKinley ephemera.

ephemera: When did you become interested in William McKinley ephemera?

Horrocks: About 1998, when I discovered eBay. I had been collecting presidential memorabilia off and on since I was a kid, but it was not until eBay that I was presented with the ability to connect with the political collectors and sellers. At first collected indiscriminately and soon discovered that I could not maintain it financially. I decided to focus my collecting and realized that I had more McKinley than any other president and also realized that there was more on McKinley out there and much of it reasonably priced. My collection currently numbers about 1,000 items.

ephemera: McKinley is a great figure in American politics, and he came to such a sad end. What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in collecting? How do you overcome these challenges?

Horrocks: Now that my collection has grown, I find that my two of my biggest challenges are price and space. I own much of the McKinley material I now encounter on the market and find that what I don't own tends to be more rare and thus more expensive. Space, of course, is an issue because I've run out of it--in terms of displaying my collection. I attempt to meet the price challenge through payment arrangements with dealers I know and who know me, though sometimes I just have to let things get away due to the price. As for space, there's not much I can do about it. It does not stop me from collecting, however.

ephemera: What advice do you have for people who want to collect McKinley ephemera or any presidential ephemera?

Horrocks: Focus on something that you can collect comprehensively and research the topic intensively so you know it more than anyone else. Follow the market so you have a good sense of what is rare versus what is commonplace as well as the market value of things you are interested in.

Since I concentrate my collection in American political material, I belong to American Political Items Collectors and read their publication as well as auction and dealer catalogs religiously.

ephemera: Thanks, Tom. I know this a lot of people will enjoy this interview. In this presidential election year, a lot of people are brushing up on their history of former presidents. I appreciate your time and thoughtful commentary.

Bad Flu Season - Whooping Cough

Nearly everyone I know has had a bout with the flu this season. It's been a rough winter for a lot of folks, and if you're suffering through it, this one is for you.

Leave a comment with your tale of woe, if it'll make you feel better. On the bright side, at least this isn't 1947, when people with Whooping Cough were being quarantined by the Board of Health.

Fallout Shelter Sign - A Lesson Learned

This fallout shelter sign is authentic, unused, old-stock Cold War ephemera printed by the Department of Defense.

As I was growing up in the midst of the Cold War, I remember seeing these signs all over town.

A fallout shelter sign was plastered to the wall of my elementary school; although, for the life of me, I had no idea where the actual shelter was located, or if it even existed. Even as a nine-year-old boy, I had the good sense to realize that the logistics of the school's fallout shelter were deeply flawed: How would more than 1,000 students and teachers fit in a shelter--a fraction of the size of the school--when the entire building barely held us? Further, I had grave doubts that the shelter was stocked with enough food and water for us to survive a nuclear winter.

The shelters, especially the one at Nelson Elementary School in Niles, Illinois, didn't make a lick of sense, and the Cold War "duck and cover" drills we routinely performed were even more ridiculous.

The Cold War was a potential powder-keg of mutually destructive stupidity that even a suburban schoolboy could tell it was moronic. Let's hope these signs don't make comeback.

Falling Satellite - Hit By Chunk of Your Tax Dollar

In 1979, on the night the 78-ton Skylab space station plummeted to earth, a group of my schoolboy chums spent the night huddled in a friend's basement. We played Steve Dahl's Skylab novelty song over and over, and mostly laughed ourselves silly waiting to be destroyed by a large chunk of our parent's tax dollar.

Of course, the current bus-sized spy satellite careening toward earth is what brought to mind the 1979 Skylab fiasco. Hopefully, it'll be just a lark this time around, too. And years from now someone will be selling off souvenir debris like the shard pictured here.

Skylab landed in Australia, of course, but it didn't diminish our enthusiasm or excitement. The event solidified a friendship among a half dozen boys that lasted nearly a quarter of a century. I wonder if a group of kids is planning a party, to take their turn waiting in the dark, like we did on that star-filled Chicago night so many years ago. A hundred years ago, it seems.

Where will this one land?

Stonewall Jackson Confederate Currency

Stonewall Jackson appears on the front of this 1964 Confederate State of America note. I've profiled a few other Confederate currency-related items in the past, including a Confederate bond found in a pile of 19th century deeds and indentures.

This $500 currency note also features George Washington on horseback and the Confederate flag, but the feature that stands out is the bust of Stonewall Jackson, one of the most beloved Southern commanders of the War Between the States. (Or, as they say here in Dixie, The War of Northern Aggression.)

Golden Retriever Dog Law - Long Live Dogs!

This Worcester broadside says, "Owners of dogs, which have not already been licensed in the City of Worcester, for the year 1859, are reminded that, by the statute of April 6, 1859, all dogs must be registered in the Office of the undersigned, before the FIRST DAY OF MAY NEXT. S. Smith, city Clerk, City Hall, April 19, 1859." The poster also lists extracts from the dog law, including registration, numbering, and license of dogs.

Dogs are one of my favorite things in this world. If I didn't blog about ephemera, I'd blog about dogs. My Golden Retriever, Chubby, has been gone for several years now, but I miss her as much today as the day we put her down. There ought to be a law against dogs living such short lives. 

Vietnam Newspaper Eniwetok-Atoll April 1954

John Ptak, the owner of Longstreet, sent in this "obscure first references to a major occurrence." [Click on image to enlarge.]

According to John, the document is one of the most obscure and rare reports on what would be the earliest involvement of America in Vietnam. This camp newspaper was published at the Eniwetok Atoll, in the Marshalls, 5 April 1954.

John writes, "Eniwetok was home of 43 or so nuclear tests, including the first use of a hydrogen bomb. It is quite a thing: from the reporting, to the masthead, and the stuff on daily camp life (and softball) on the back page (of a 2-page paper)."