ephemera

Charles Magnus Researcher & Jones Fellowship Recipient Rich McKinstry

Rich McKinstry is the Andrew W. Mellon Senior Librarian at H.F. du Pont Winterthur Museum. Recently, Rich was awarded the first Philip Jones Fellowship to pursue research on New York lithographer Charles Magnus. In the following interview, Rich discusses the award and his ongoing research on this fascinating aspect of ephemera.

ephemera: Tell me about your research on Charles Magnus. How did the project begin? What is the purpose?

McKinstry: Charles Magnus has been in the back of my mind for some time. There is a collection of his work at the Winterthur Museum, where I am senior librarian, that numbers about 250 pieces, and every so often we receive gift and purchase offers—mostly purchase—that include his items. We have prepared a database featuring images and text descriptions of our Magnus holdings and look forward to sharing it shortly with a larger audience via the Internet. Although Magnus’ name and what he created appear in print in articles and on many websites, there isn’t a single article that covers his career. Since he produced so much, I thought it was time to fill the void with an article about him.

ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in your research? How do you overcome these challenges? How will the award help you in these efforts?

McKinstry: Magnus was so prolific. How am I going to sift through it all? Thankfully, there is a lot available electronically, which will ease the task of seeing what he produced. Much of what he did was from the Civil War era, but little survives—at least at this point, I think little survives—from the last decades of his career, from the 1880s and 90s. Where is this material? I plan to use the Jones Fellowship to travel to Washington, D.C., where nineteenth century U.S. copyright records are kept. Since Magnus seemed to register everything he printed, I hope they will identify what he did, especially during these years. I also will visit the Baker Library at Harvard to see R.G. Dun credit reports.

ephemera: What discoveries have you made so far?

McKinstry: I have next to me two boxes of articles that mention Magnus and hundreds of images of his products from online sources, including libraries, dealers, and stamp auction sites. Because of the nature of Magnus’ work—the creation of so many single sheets with illustrations and text—it is possible to study what he produced without having to rely on seeing all of his actual items, though of course originals are always preferred. The great discovery is that there are so many things available online.

ephemera: What will your research tell us about Charles Magnus and lithography in general?

McKinstry: I’m interested in Magnus as a printer who both reflected his times and was a leader in producing what we today call its printed ephemera. Part of what I plan to do is to compare his output with his contemporaries. But, this investigation is yet to come.

ephemera: What do you hope will be gained through your research?

McKinstry: I look forward to writing something that will bring together in one place as much information as possible that has been published separately about Magnus over the years. In tandem, I hope to add and offer new insights to what is already known. I also hope that other researchers will use what I do as jumping off points to explore Magnus even further. I would be delighted to hear from anyone reading this interview about Magnus items and sources.

ephemera: Congratulations on the award, Rich. Thanks for sharing your activities with the ephemera blog, and good luck with your research--it sounds like fascinating work.

Bobby Fischer Autograph Expert Lawrence Totaro

Author and chess collector, Lawrence Totaro, 26, resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, and enjoys playing the piano, drawing, and researching chess materials. We spoke recently about his new book, Fisching for Forgeries, a guide to determining the authenticity of the signature of the late chess legend, Bobby Fischer.

ephemera: Tell me about the Fisching for Forgeries. How did the project begin?

Totaro: Fisching for Forgeries did not have a preconceived, intentional beginning. After three years of corresponding with collectors and researchers, material began to build regarding the Bobby Fischer autograph. Observing and comparing these items with those discovered on eBay, it became clearly apparent that introspection needed to be conducted and Fisching for Forgeries was the result, not something a process to be completed.

ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in writing the book? How do you overcome these challenges?

Totaro: A major challenge encountered in the research was the discovery of variation after another in an attempt to establish a set autograph. As stated in the book, there have been eleven variations discovered and when these variations kept occurring; it was quite hard to assemble an objective autograph. Establishing a comparable foundation was quite difficult but with sufficient amount of quality material followed by proper guidance from fellow colleagues, it was clear that overcoming this obstacle was highly probable.

ephemera: What discoveries did you make along the way?

Totaro: When one conducts research, it is natural to ponder through various sources to see if proper research has been already attempted. Whether that research has been conducted by an “expert” or an “authority” it becomes quite clear that one establishes a foundation, or better yet, a place to begin. In this project, there were no “authoritative” or so called, “experts” to rely upon and so the beginning of a foundation was created. It should be noted that a little pamphlet such as Fisching for Forgeries does not answer any questions or offer an “expert” opinion; it is merely a foundation for others to build upon. Whether this foundation is helpful, that is up to future researchers to decide.

ephemera: I recently read the fascinating book, Bobby Fisher Goes to War. Beyond his brilliance at Chess, Fischer is such an interesting character. What does the book tell us about the Bobby Fischer and his career?

Totaro: Fisching for Forgeries will not discuss the chess career of Bobby Fischer. The grapholigcal analysis written by Sheila Lowe is the only section of the book that attempts to deliver an understanding of Fischer’s personality. [It should be noted to readers that a site has compiled such books on Fischer and/or his career. For quick web access, visit this page by chess researcher, Bill Wall.]

ephemera: Who is the audience for the book, and what will they gain by reading it?

Totaro: Collectors of chess autographs and researchers of Bobby Fischer’s autograph should be the direct audience of Fisching for Forgeries. However, collectors from other areas should be able to understand the need to deepen their insight before making a purchase.

ephemera: Thank you, Lawrence. I'm glad we had the chance to discuss your book. I know a lot of autograph collectors will want to check it out. [To read a review of the book written by chess enthusiast, Phil Innes, click here.]

Women in Film History - Interview with Author Amelie Hastie

Amelie Hastie is Associate Professor of Film and Digital Media at the University of California-Santa Cruz; she is currently at work on two new books, one on director Ida Lupino's film The Bigamist (for the British Film Institute's "Film Classics" series) and another on the television series Columbo. In the following interview, we talk about her work and the role ephemera plays in her research.

ephemera: Tell me about the Cupboards of Curiosity: Women, Recollection, and Film History. How did it begin?

Hastie: The book arose out of my discovery of a constellation of objects and texts, all either written, directed or collected by women who worked in the silent film industry. I found a reference to an essay Louise Brooks wrote in a footnote to a scholarly essay; I was given a copy of silent film star Colleen Moore's book How women can make money in the stock market; which led me to her incredible dollhouse in Chicago; and I realized that the original source for almost everything that was published about the first woman filmmaker Alice Guy Blaché'swas her own autobiography. So I became interested in how these various women had both disappeared from history and/or had left traces of their lives and works in surprising, unconventional spaces.

ephemera: Ephemera has a way of leading places. What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in writing the book? How do you overcome these challenges?

Hastie: One of the biggest challenges was that this was a book about film history in which written and material forms were the central objects I considered. I needed to argue that we should consider these things alongside the films they accompany in order to have a sense of how we understand not just those films but film history overall. I was determined, too, to look at these various texts--like Colleen Moore's prodigious collection of scrapbooks--cinematically. This made sense to me because these objects are also visual things and because film is also an ephemeral form--thinking through those particular connections helped me overcome some of the challenges of the book. But I suppose I also overcame those challenges because I really loved what I was writing about, whether that was Alice Guy Blache--for whom I gained an enormous affection--or cooking or dollhouse miniatures.

ephemera: What are your favorite pieces of ephemera in the book?

Hastie: My favorite pieces are the notes that Louise Brooks sketched in the margins of her books. She later donated her library to the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY; a 1912 story about Alice Guy Blache's production house, told in the form of an advance review of a fictional film; Zasu Pitts's candy-making cookbook, and the candy I've made from it; and a photograph of Colleen Moore eating a box of chocolates with her signature on them...in this case, too, the chocolates are the ephemera!

ephemera: Oh, those sound fascinating. What discoveries did you make along the way?

Hastie: Most importantly, I found that the women whose works I discovered were ultimately responsible for what I knew about them. This might sound like an obvious sort of discovery, but in academic work we more often see the figures we study as objects about whom we produce knowledge rather than subjects from whom we can learn something new. The book began to feel like a collaboration I was producing with them. And from Marlene Dietrich, I learned a fool-proof way to release a cake stuck in a baking pan! Mae West was full of interesting tips as well, but I'll let your readers pursue those on their own.

ephemera: Mae West had some interesting things to say, I'll bet. What does the book tell us about the history of film?

Hastie: I hope that it tells us that history itself is inscribed in a range of spaces--from cookbooks to dollhouses to the margins of books--and that we have to make an effort to rediscover those histories that have been lost or hidden, just as we have to make an effort to archive and restore lost films.

ephemera: Who is the target audience for the book, and what will they gain by reading it?

Hastie: I think it appeals to a range of people who are interested in thinking about connections between collecting, ephemera, and history. Of course it's also a book for film scholars and film fans. I think readers can gain something on a number of levels: the pleasure of the various stories I tell about the figures, the details of the objects, a sense of how film history has been written and how I'd like us to see history differently, and ideas about how collecting works in both personal and broader cultural contexts. My aunt read it from cover to cover and claims she loved it, and a friend of my mom said she just enjoys picking it up and reading bits at random. It's also been taught already in graduate courses in Indiana and New York--that I know of--where it seems that students were inspired by my methodological approach and choice of objects.

ephemera: Tell us about your other activities such your tickets stubs in the online media and ephemera project.

Hastie: Working on Cupboards of Curiosity inspired me to investigate further ephemeral and material objects connected to film and television studies. With a brilliant designer, Raegan Kelly, I developed a web-based project for the on-line journal Vectors in which I invited several scholars to choose a material and/or ephemeral thing to investigate in relation to moving-image media. Raegan and I tried to shape the project so that these ephemeral objects could intersect in order to tell a range of stories about how we perceive moving-image media. One of my favorite parts of this piece is a tiny film Raegan shot of powder blown into the air and which helps to introduce the project -- it's the best representation of ephemerality I can imagine! This project can be found at here.

My own piece was on movie ticket stubs, which I can never throw away. As other collectors do, I think of these things as souvenirs not just of the films I saw but of my very experience of watching movies. In fact, this project led me to further analysis of the ephemerality of my experiences as a viewer and how that experience is also essential to scholarly investigation. I wrote a couple of pieces about eating at the movies; one more dense and scholarly and another more speculative and autobiographical, as well as a little essay for Cabinet Magazine on candy as an ephemeral but also constant part of my life.

ephemera: It's been a pleasure hearing about your work and the ephemera you've encountered along the way. Thanks, Amalie.

[Photo Attributions: Louise Brooks by Steve Rhodes; Mae West by Elephi Pelephi]

Pulp Magazine Expert Avi Abrams Interview

Avi Abrams, the creator of darkroastedblend and a long-time friend of this blog, spoke to me recently about the fine art of pulp magazines. In the following interview, Avi talks about his fascination with pulps and how to collect and care for them.

ephemera: What makes pulp magazines such a highly desirable collectible?

Abrams: Pulps were chock-full of exciting fiction and lurid in-your-face art. Crammed in 200 or so pages you can often find one full novel, two novelettes, and five stories--all with great action, color, and, if it's sci-fi genre, stimulating ideas. Consider it being as almost the opposite to the 500-plus page trilogy bricks that crowd the shelves in Chapters.

In some ways there were the literary equivalent of 'manga' - the thrilling, highly visual tales of the Age of Superheroes in the 30s and later the Space Age of the 50s. In the best pulps, such as Astounding Stories and Weird Tales, the quality of fiction has been uniformly very high, with top writers submitting their best work--sometimes the only market for them in the absence of hardcover book publications, and with Hollywood 'silver screen' being very predictable and dull.

So, in other words, if you are an avid reader--not just a collector--then owning pulps means hours of delightful reading entertainment, plus most fiction found there is extremely rare today, and still not reprinted.

ephemera: It makes you wonder why more people don't collect them. Is it because pulp magazines are more fragile than other magazines or books? What can collectors due to preserve the pulps they own? Can damaged pulps be fixed?

Abrams: The term pulp points to the substance they were printed on--a very fragile low-grade paper, yellowish and brittle, with characteristic wooden pulp smell. This makes collecting pulps a precarious occupation, as they crumble with age more than any newspapers, and, if you're prone to reading them, do not hold well after you flip all the pages. Besides, many pulps available on the market today for cheaper price lack the cover; they are called 'coverless', as dealers ripped the covers off unsold issues...and if you have the cover intact, the corners and edges were untrimmed, quick to tear off or become ragged.

There is hardly anything you can do to preserve them--other than handle them with care--this is why pulps in good condition command higher and higher prices on eBay with every year, and the issues in the worst condition are often bound together in a sort of hardcover collection volume, and sold that way. Many rare issues are beyond help--and require digitizing, scanning, and preserving the contents in the digital form. A few libraries have magazine collections--but they are extremely valuable and are treated as such.

ephemera: What are the most highly prized pulp magazines? Do you have any of these show stoppers in your collection?

Abrams: The full run of Weird Tales is something of a treasure, and only two libraries in the world have it. I can speak only for pulp magazines in the fantastic genre--the issues with early stories of H. P. Lovecraft, Edmond Hamilton, Clark Ashton Smith, and some rare science fiction pulps with Philip K. Dick stories--all command a higher price. I attempt to collect as much fiction of Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett as I can-- and all these issues are high-in-demand. Larger-format Amazing Stories and Astounding Stories from the 30s--all are beautiful investments, as the interest in super-science and the Age of Wonder seem to be coming back in recent years.

ephemera: What advice do you have for anyone considering building a pulp magazine collection? Are there books or resources available?

Abrams: I would advice to buy the issues you'd like to read yourself, some of it may depreciate faster, but you'll have the added pleasure of owning some grand fiction that is not available today in any other form. You should have some 'core' issues in the best condition possible, and look for early appearances of prominent writers, such as Bradbury and Dick. Also, look at the cover artist and the illustrations inside--issues with artists like Hannes Bok and Virgil Finlay are more valuable.

Pretty good guide and resource--available in any Chapters today--is Science Fiction Collectibles: Identification and Price Guide by Stuart W. Wells. And for all vintage SF-related info, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by Peter Nicholls (1974 edition) is the best.

Most of all, enjoy the color and action of the most rewarding adventure and 'wonder' fiction of all times--published between the dog-eared covers on the crumbling yellow paper--while they still exist in original, not digitized form.

ephemera: Thanks, Avi. This has been a fun, educational, and enlightening interview, which I'm confident will help a lot of collectors, and may even inspire a few people to start collecting pulps. Click here to read Avi's SF pulp reviews.

Vernor's Ginger Ale Collector Keith Wunderlich Interview

Keith Wunderlich loves Detroit and one of its most famous products, Vernors Ginger Ale. He has collected Vernor’s memorabilia for over 30 years and presents its history to historical societies regularly. In the following interview, Keith talks about his Vernor's collection and the unique history of the brand:

ephemera: How did you become interested in Vernor’s ephemera?

Wunderlich: I have collected Vernor’s advertising and ephemera for over 30 years. I live in the Detroit area and am very interested in Detroit history. When I first got the collecting bug, I was collecting many different Detroit items. Then, my focus became much more intent on just Vernor’s. I still have some stray Detroit items in my collection. But, the vast majority of what I have is Vernor’s Ginger Ale.

My Vernor’s collection began with signs and clocks and trays. I began to get interested in the history of the company, and that’s when the ephemera collecting began. I liked the brochures, business cards, recipe books, price guides, and company newsletters.

ephemera: Did you begin consciously, knowing what you would collect, or did you just one day discover what you were doing?

Wunderlich: I knew I was collecting Detroit. I’m a huge fan of the city and like to challenge the stereotype concepts people have about Detroit. I fell into Vernor’s Ginger Ale because of finding a stash of bottles and a clock. I also was impressed that Vernor’s is America’s oldest continuously produced soda pop. It was started in 1866. That’s before Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Moxie and Hires. Some people say Hires was also started in 1866, but that’s very doubtful. Charles Hires was only 15 in 1866, and he supposedly discovered root beer on his honeymoon, which was in 1875.

ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in compiling this collection? How do you overcome these challenges?

Wunderlich: After 30 years of collecting, my biggest challenge is finding something I don’t have. I’ll get emails or phone calls from people who have found something Vernor’s for me. They’re very excited and I always feel a little guilty letting them know I already have three of them. But, the chase is also the fun of it. It makes it that much more fun when you find something you don’t have. Vernor’s isn’t easy to find. I attend the Indianapolis Antique Advertising Show every year and often come back empty-handed. The search is still fun even when I don’t find anything.
I think the Internet has been a mixed blessing for finding items. I have purchased some items I never would have known about without the Internet. However, one of my best Vernor’s experiences was shopping in a junky little antique mall near Grand Rapids, MI and finding a very rare Vernor’s bottle topper for $10. To me, that’s a lot more fun than looking at eBay .

ephemera: What are your favorite items in the collection? Do you have a crowning jewel or show stopper in your collection? If so, what is it?

Wunderlich: From the ephemera perspective, my crowning jewel is a James Vernor Pharmacist card from about 1880. It is in great condition and is extremely rare. So rare, I’ve never seen another one – or even heard about another one - in all my collecting years. I also have a couple other James Vernor Florist cards. I love knowing that James Vernor himself touched those cards as he handed them to a customer.

From the advertising perspective, I have several favorites. Although it’s not that rare, I really like my cylinder fountain dispenser. This would have been used in the 1940s and 1950s. When I take it places for shows or presentations, it gets a lot of attention.

ephemera: What resources do you recommend?

Wunderlich: Well, of course, I think the number one resource for anyone interested in Vernor’s is an excellent new book titled Images of America: Vernor's Ginger Ale from Arcadia Publishing. The fact that I wrote it has not influenced my number one placement! For those familiar with Arcadia books, it’s a book of historic photographs with captions. I have included quite a bit of ephemera in the book. It’s available from Amazon or from the Vernor’s Club website.

The Vernor’s Ginger Ale Collectors’ Club is another great resource. There’s a quarterly newsletter that normally includes between 80 and 100 photographs of Vernor’s history, advertising and ephemera. It’s not your normal club newsletter with a treasurer’s report and “hello” from the president. The whole thing is about various aspects of Vernor’s Ginger Ale history. It’s an ephemera collector’s dream newsletter.

ephemera: Thanks, Keith. It's been a treat to talk with you. You have a terrific collection.

Baseball Card Collector Josh Wilker Interview

As part of my celebration of the opening of the 2008 baseball season, I've featured several posts recently about baseball ephemera, including a recent interview with a collector of White Sox baseball cards. Today's post contains an interview with Josh Wilker, a baseball card collector and editor of the Carboard Gods blog. In it, Josh talks about card collecting from a generalists perspective.

ephemera: When did you become interested in baseball cards?

Wilker: I started collecting cards when my older brother started collecting cards, in 1975, when I was in first grade. It was something for us to grab onto just after our family moved away from our dad and all our friends and to a new state. I'm sure for me it was also a way to try to stay as close as possible to my brother, who I worshiped and imitated whenever possible.

ephemera: Did you begin consciously, knowing what you would collect, or did you just one day discover what you were doing?

Wilker: The collecting of baseball cards in some ways began--or at least paralleled the beginning of--my conscious life. It was something I woke up doing. Once I was doing it I had some conception of goals, such as completing a year's set or at least one team's set (I never accomplished either goal), but mostly I was just carried along by the feeling of opening a new pack of cards and chewing the gum and thumbing through the colorful new cards. The greatest feeling, of course, was when you discovered an All-Time Great in your pack. I was an addict of the sugar-high feeling, and of the slightly milder corollary highs--memorizing stats on the back of the cards, sorting the cards into teams, checking off acquired cards on checklists, etc.

ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in compiling this collection? How do you overcome these challenges?

Wilker: I stopped collecting cards around the time I hit puberty. But after years--decades--of dormancy my childhood collection started to become a part of my present life again when I wrote about a few cards during a year spent in a Unabomber-type cabin with no electricity and no running water. I gradually began to realize that I wanted to try to bring the cards back to life. In that sense, the challenge became not one of compiling but of connecting. I've been writing at great length about the cards for a year and a half, and in that span there hasn't been a week that's gone by where I haven't wondered if there was absolutely nothing left to say about my childhood baseball card collection. But eventually a newly rediscovered card will show some glimmer of life, if I sit and look at it for long enough.

ephemera: What are your favorite items in the collection? Do you have a 'show stopper' in your collection? If so, what is it?

Wilker: The first card that comes to mind is a 1980 Mark Fidrych card. When I started the Cardboard Gods blog, I decided that the first card profile I would write would be chosen at random. I was stunned that out of all my cards the one to start the whole project would be Mark Fidrych. No one player from my childhood epitomized the brief, joyous flowering of childhood itself than Mark Fidrych, who burst into the league in 1976 and had one incredibly effective and entertaining season before fizzling out due to injuries. The 1980 card is especially poignant to me because by that point his fate as a one-season wonder had pretty much been sealed, yet here he was, still hanging on, still trying.

Beyond that, I don't have a hierarchical sense of my cards. Monetarily, they're all equally dinged-up and worthless. And in my own mind the cards of the least known players are often more fascinating than the cards of the stars. But that said, if I were showing someone a small sample of my collection, I'd show my 1975 Rudy Meoli, which because of its enigmatic action photo was a favorite of mine as a kid, and my 1977 J.R. Richard, dazzling in its rainbow colors and ferocious coiled energy, and my 1977 Pete Broberg for the strange, otherworldly effect created by the crude airbrushing job, and my 1980 Carl Yastrzemski, because he was my favorite player as a kid and because throughout my twenties I kept the card on my writing desk as a guide, i.e., "here's how to stand in there and wait for your pitch."

ephemera: What resources do you recommend for people interested in collecting baseball cards?

Wilker: The greatest baseball card writing ever done, and some of the best sports writing, period, was produced by Brendan C. Boyd and Fred C. Harris in Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book. I've also gotten inspiration in my attempts to connect to my cards from other of my favorite writers, most importantly Frederick Exley, who in A Fan's Notes showed that it was possible to present a life in full through the lens of being on the sidelines, as a fan. As for tools, I store all my cards the way I did as a kid, in a shoebox, no plastic, each individual team wrapped in a rubber band.

ephemera: Thanks for helping me celebrate the opening of another great baseball season, Josh. I appreciate your time and thoughtful care in answering my questions.

White Sox Baseball Card Collector Steve Gierman

I've been a White Sox fan since the early 1970s, when my uncle introduced me to his favorite team. For a kid living on the Northside of Chicago--in enemy territory--it was a hard road. But there were others similarly afflicted. That's why I'm so excited about my recent interview with Steve Gierman. Steve has been collecting baseball cards on and off since 1983. In the past few years, he has focused his attention to collecting only cards of the Chicago White Sox and his two favorite players--Baines and Fisk. We discussed his collection and his love of the White Sox in the following interview:

ephemera: As a White Sox fan, I'm eager to hear why you selected the team as the focus for your card collection.

Gierman: To understand my interest in White Sox baseball cards, I have to recall a few key events that shaped my youth. I had always enjoyed playing baseball with my friends, but I was oblivious to any type of professional baseball being played. I can remember sitting in my bedroom, in 1982, turning the knob to flip through the television channels. I came across a baseball game on channel 44, which was a local UHF station in Chicago. It was a White Sox game, and I’m almost certain that they were playing the Blue Jays.

I had no idea when these games would be televised, so I would channel flip until I found a baseball game. I would watch any game that was played, but I preferred watching the White Sox. I enjoyed listening to Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and Don Drysdale call the games on television and I liked the style of play that the White Sox brought to the game. Players like Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk, and Richard Dotson brought the game I played with my friends to life.

In 1983, my dad surprised me with a pack of Topps cards. I didn’t have a clue that the people I watched play my favorite game were being immortalized on cardboard. Most of the pack was cool, but nothing that exciting. Then I got to the card of Alfredo Griffin. There was something about the expression on his face, while desperately trying to hold on to the ball, that captured my young imagination. I was instantly hooked. For the next few years, I tried to get my hands on any card I could. It didn’t matter who was on it or what team he was on. I had delusions of grandeur of collecting every single card out there. With only three companies producing cards, it seemed like an attainable goal as a kid.

My dad started to take me to White Sox games shortly after that. Seeing the players that I admired in person was the biggest thrill for me. It didn’t matter if I met them or not. I was just glad to be privileged enough to see them play in person. The sounds and sights of old Comiskey Park were enough to make a lasting impression on me that still brings a smile to my face. Every time that the White Sox hit a home run, the scoreboard exploded in a colorful array of fireworks. The players, the food, the fireworks and the organist, Nancy Faust, all were a part of my growing love for the White Sox.

ephemera: Excuse me, I'm getting misty-eyed. Did you begin consciously, knowing what you would collect, or did you just one day discover what you were doing?

Gierman: When I began collecting cards, I tried collecting everything under the sun. This led to a lot of disappointment and frustration. I was never able to complete any of my Topps sets as a kid. I didn’t have the resources available to realistically get it done. This led me to stop collecting baseball cards at two different times in my life. The first time was after 1987. My interest started to wane from collecting everything and not being able to complete sets through the packs I would buy at the corner drugstore or through trades. The kids that I would usually trade with started to move away from the area. I was stuck with opening whatever packs my allowance could buy.

I started to move into what other kids were collecting, just so I could have a chance at completing some sets. I got into Garbage Pail Kids for awhile and gravitated towards comic books for a few years. Both of those were fine for something different, but couldn’t satisfy what I really wanted to collect.

In 1990, I started buying packs at the corner drugstore again. This time, I found many more packs to choose from. A few other companies, like Upper Deck and Score, had started in my absence. The card companies that I grew up with expanded with sister sets. I picked up me first Bowman and Leaf cards that year. I was able to complete a few sets in 1990, with the help of factory sets that I received at Christmas. I had all the cards in the set, but it didn’t feel right. I missed the fun of the hunt. I have never bought another factory set since 1990.

The next year, I reached my peak in collecting. I was unimpressed with the majority of the product coming out, so I cut back my pack buying. I bought what I thought would be my last pack in 1994. There were too many releases coming out and the price was starting to skyrocket past my comfort level.

While I never boycotted baseball, the 1994 strike hit close to home. The White Sox were the favorites to go to the World Series and that never had a chance to happen. It took awhile, but baseball won me over again. I had always kept an eye on the games when the strike was over, but with each passing year, the games became more important in my life. It was about the feeling of my youth and the pure joy of the game.

Then around 2004, I started to collect team sets on eBay. I had to learn everything that happened in the hobby since 1994. It was like starting from scratch. I pulled out my old collection and started to sort through everything again. I vowed that I would start collecting again because it was something that brought me great joy in my life. I would only collect what really mattered to me, which was White Sox cards. As long as I had eBay, I would be able to collect only the White Sox cards and not be forced to buy something I didn’t want.

In 2007, I picked up my first pack of baseball cards in 13 years. It was all downhill from there. I had started to pick up packs again. Then, I graduated to blaster boxes and finally to hobby boxes. I kept true to my vow though, although with a slight tweak. I only collect White Sox cards, but I have expanded that to also include my two favorite players from my youth, Harold Baines and Carlton Fisk.

ephemera: Oh, I remember 1994. Thank goodness for 2005. And Harold is one of my all-time favorites. Robin Ventura, Bo Jackson, and Bucky Dent are also on my favorites list. What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in compiling this collection? How do you overcome these challenges?

Gierman: The biggest obstacle would be the team’s popularity. The White Sox don’t have as many cards as the Yankees or the Red Sox or even the Cubs. Since the team isn’t in the top 5, many eBay sellers will concentrate on selling cards of the more popular teams. I bypass that by trading with other collectors. This way of collecting also connects me to my youth. I get a kick out of each trade I complete. Everyone has different tastes and different ideas of what I want in return. Everyone has found something that I needed though and I love the variety in each trade.

Since the team generally has fewer cards available, the White Sox collectors tend to pounce on the same items. I have overpaid for some cards because of other collectors bidding on the same card. I usually set limits for each card. If I can’t find it under a certain amount or the bidding goes past a certain point, I can let it go without losing any sleep. I quickly learned the subtle nuances of bidding on eBay and have gotten better results out of my experiences.

A particular tricky part about collecting only specific cards of a team or a player is the parallel cards. Sometimes there seems to be an infinite amount of parallel cards for a release. Usually these cards are limited to as few as one card produced. My attitude towards those cards varies. Usually the lower the number is, the more I’ll resign myself to the fact that I probably won’t be adding it to my collection. If I happen to get it, that great, but I won’t stress myself over it if I don’t.

Being a team collector, the short print card has been another obstacle that I’ve encountered. The 2007 Topps Turkey Red set has two short print cards featuring White Sox players. Including the short print cards, the team set is only 6 cards. That makes it a bit difficult to complete a set. As of this writing, I’m still one card short of completing the team set for that release.

I would say that the most annoying trend that I run into is the cards of a player that feature him in one uniform and list him, on the card, on another team. This makes my task that much more difficult. My definition of a complete team set includes those cards listed as being on the White Sox and any card that features a player in a White Sox uniform. Many times I have to physically see the card to know if a recently traded player on another team is featured in his White Sox uniform. It can cause a lot of frustration completing a set this way, but it is soon replaced by a sense of accomplishment.

ephemera: What are your favorite items in the collection? Do you have a 'crowning jewel' or 'show stopper' in your collection? If so, what is it?

Gierman: While I love all my cards equally, I am especially proud of each Harold Baines and each Carlton Fisk memorabilia or autographed card that I pick up. Some people are impressed at my complete 1968 Topps team set, while others are amazed at my cards from the fifties or my autographed Frank Thomas 1990 Topps rookie card, which was signed in person in 1990.
I have four cards that I love to show off. The first is my 1933 World Wide Gum V353 card of Ralph Kress. World Wide Gum is basically the Canadian version of Goudey. The 1933 Goudey is one of the more iconic card releases in the 20th century.

The second card that I will show off is a 2005 Donruss Elite – Passing The Torch card featuring pieces of bats from Carlton Fisk and Magglio Ordonez. The card is numbered 125/250.
If anyone still needs impressing, I pull out my 2007 Triple Threads relic card of A.J. Pierzynski, Kelvim Escobar and Josh Paul numbered 29/36. It features bats from Pierzynski and Paul, plus a uniform swatch from Escobar. Essentially, this represents the famous third strike call from the 2005 ALCS, where Pierzynski made it safely to first base after Josh Paul rolled the ball towards the pitcher’s mound thinking that it was the final out. He never tagged Pierzynski, so when A.J. ran to first, he ended up being safe.

If I still can’t convince someone, I pull out my 2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia – Team Six relic card. It features uniform swatches from Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, Hoyt Wilhelm and Harold Baines. It also has a jacket swatch from Carlton Fisk. This usually silences people when I show that card off.

ephemera: Oh, I loved watching LaMarr Hoyt pitch. Speaking of pitchers, I also liked "Black" Jack McDowell and Floyd "The Barber" Bannister. What resources do you recommend for those who wish we had the time to assemble a White Sox card collection? And also talk about how to care for a collection of this type.

Gierman: I subscribe to Beckett’s online baseball card price guide. From there you can look up almost any release of baseball cards. I have found a few team sets that they don’t have included in their online database, but for the most part, Beckett is pretty extensive. The magazine itself is going through a lot of change at the moment. I would still recommend picking one up to catch up on recent releases. If you are looking for oddball releases, you will find most of them in the online database. It’s searchable by year, player, or set name.

I would also recommend the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards book for a searchable print version of the cards that are out there. It is definitely a valuable resource.

The best sources for uncovering information on some card releases are the baseball card blogs. Most of the bloggers are very knowledgeable and very willing to share information. A good beginning point is eBay. Do not buy without doing your research first! There are unscrupulous sellers out there. I have seen cards misrepresented and overpriced too many times. The best advice that I can give is to know the cards you are looking for. It will save you a lot of money in the long run.

When I store my cards, I use a variety of methods. For the bulk of my collection, I use Ultra Pro pages and store them in D ring binders. I’ve tried other pages, but Ultra Pro is the best to store your cards properly. Don’t be fooled by the cheap pages that you can find at places like Wal-Mart. There may be 100 pages there for $5.00, but you are sacrificing the longevity of your cards by going cheap.

There are several methods to store thicker cards. I use a magnetized hard plastic protector to store my Triple Threads Pierzynski relic. One side hooks into two slots and the other side is held together by magnets. I’ve never had a problem with it opening unexpectedly and the card is well protected.

Other cards are first housed in penny sleeves and put into a rigid plastic toploader. Some are in screw-down hard plastic protectors. The best method is one that you are comfortable with and protects the card. I only put certain cards in hard plastic. Most of my collection is in plastic pages. I have always believed that cards should be protected, but still be allowed to breathe. After all, collecting should be about the fun you experience and that can’t happen under thick, hard plastic.

ephemera: Thanks, Steve. Great tips and stellar advice. This interview brought back a lot of great memories for me. Go White Sox! And let's hope 2008 brings the title back to the Southside of Chicago.

Hand Fan Collector Anna Checcoli Interview

Anna Checcoli, a former classical dancer and law graduate, belongs to an ancient Italian noble family of French origin. We spoke recently about her wonderful collection of hand-held fans. The following interview contains Anna's thoughts on her collection as well as some amazing examples of antique fans.

ephemera: When did you become interested in hand fans?

Checcoli: I have always had fans around me, since I was a child. I live surrounded by antiquities, almost all owned by my family. I received my first fan from my aunt, who received it from my grandmother.

ephemera: It sounds like your remarkable family history played a role in your collection. Did you begin consciously--knowing what you would collect--or did you just one day discover what you were doing?

Checcoli: I began to collect consciously, but it became a real profession slowly. I mean that I started to study seriously about fans a little later, about twelve years ago.

ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in compiling this collection? How do you overcome these challenges?

Checcoli: Collecting fans is very expensive! Anyway, the Internet is a big help for all collectors today. It opens the doors all over the world, so you needn't to go to the specific country to find what you look for. My choice is to find at least an exemplar of any possible typology.

ephemera: What are your favorite items in the collection? Do you have a 'crowning jewel' or 'show stopper' in your collection?

Checcoli: I always say that my fans are all my children, and my true children are a little jealous! I haven't a favorite item, they are identical for me from a sentimental point of view. Of course, some of them are really precious, and have a consistent material value, but they aren't more darlings to my heart. However, the most interesting are the Queen Anne Stuart's fan, the Marie Antoinette's fan, the Tzar Alexander III's fan, a XVIII° century articulated fan, a fan of XVI° century...and many others.

ephemera:  What resources  and tools do you recommend?

Checcoli: The study of fans is very difficult. You can't learn about this item in a short time. I suggest, as a first approach, three books with the same title Fans. The first of Susan Mayor, the second of Nancy Armstrong, the third of Hélène Alexandre--of course not in order of importance. If you wish to start in collecting fans, always to catalog them, specifying materials, decorations, history, date, measures, and value. If you find it, put them in their original case; otherwise, frame only the ones you wish to show, and the ones it's impossible to fold and close. In the other cases, put them in tissue paper, and fold and close them without any problem: for me, a framed fan is a died fan. I need to touch them.

ephemera: That's great advice, Anna. Thank you for your time in answering my questions. You have a beautiful collection.

Collector's Weekly Syndicates Ephemera Interviews

A few days ago, I received a call from the editor of Collector's Weekly, Dave Margulius. Dave asked if he could syndicate some of my interviews on Collectorsweekly.com. The interviews I conduct with collectors and authors are among the most popular posts on the ephemera blog, and I was more than happy to allow Dave to feature some of them on his site. San Francisco, California-based Collectorsweekly.com strives to present 'The Best of Antiques and Collecting,' and includes a 'Hall of Fame' directory of great collector websites, plus reference pages on more than 400 categories of antiques and collectibles.

In a press release annoucing the syndication of ephemera blog interviews, Dave Margulius said:

We're excited to make these great interviews available to our visitors, and simultaneously help more people learn about the Ephemera Blog, a great reference site on old paper. Marty Weil has done a great job seeking out interesting collectors and doing in-depth profiles of them which make for fun and educational reading.

Speaking of interviews, I've just completed several exciting interview, including a very special interview with a collector of Chicago White Sox baseball cards, which will appear next week. Also, i the coming days, I plan to post an interview with another baseball card collector and a collector of antique fans. 

Charles Bukowski Ephemera Collector - Bill Roberts - Interview

Charles Bukowski is my favorite poet. When Tom Waits did a spoken-word recording of Buk's Nirvana on his most recent album, it was the perfect marriage of two of my favorite pop culture icons. So, as you might image, I'm pretty excited to feature this interview with Bill Roberts, a collector of Charles Bukowski ephemera. Bill runs Bottle of Smoke Press and lives in Dover, DE, with his wife and two children. Many of Bill's publications are printed on a Chandler & Price press from 1914 using hand-set lead type.

ephemera: I'm a fan of Bukowski's poetry. Rather than gush about my fondness for Buk, I'd like to focus on your collection. How did you become interested in collecting ephemera related to Charles Bukowski?

Roberts: I started collecting books by Charles Bukowski in 1994. I started with books, but quickly realized that ephemera can be a great way to get unusual works without spending too much money. There are some ephemeral items that are quite expensive, but many are affordable and usually give you a true first printing of individual poems, before they appeared in book form.

ephemera: I can see where owning a hand-written poem or a magazine featuring his work would be a way to get very close to the source--even more so than a first edition book. What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in compiling this collection? How do you overcome these challenges?

Roberts: There are two major challenges. 1) Space. There is not enough space to display my collection so most of the fragile ephemeral items are carefully protected and filed away. Only the very, very special pieces get framed on the wall and 2) Money. About 80 percent of the Bukowski ephemeral items are affordable ($5 - $100), but about 20 percent are more expensive, sometimes much more expensive. There are some very rare and special early broadsides, for example, that sell for many thousands of dollars. I am a completist so the idea that I am near a stopping point because of finances drives me crazy

ephemera: What are your favorite Buk ephemera items?

Roberts: Any broadsides printed letterpress are my favorites. So much so, that Bukowski contributed in a very big way to me starting my own press; Bottle of Smoke Press in 2002, because I wanted to publish books and broadsides that I would love to own. Since then, I have been very proud to publish several Bukowski broadsides, and always challenge myself to print something that I would love to own. BoSP also publishes many poets that are not as famous, and I make every effort to give their projects the same treatment.

ephemera: What do these items tell us about Bukowski?

Roberts: I'm not sure they tell us as much as the magazines tell us. Many of the poems and stories appeared in many of the little magazines from the time of his first magazine publication in 1944 until his death in 1994. He always showed a great loyalty and affection to the "littles" and was published in over 1000 magazines in that 50 year period. Many of these poems were then reworked for broadside or book publication, but the original version can be an interesting read.

ephemera: What resources do you recommend for people interesting in Charles Bukowski, especially those that might wish to acquire some of his ephemera?

Roberts: The bibliography by Aaron Krumhansl is a must for anyone interested in collecting Bukowski. This is a nearly complete bibliography through 1999. In addition, the checklist and price guide from Al Fogel is a great companion. Mr. Fogel lists all the magazine appearences that he could find. There are not many that he missed. The prices are a bit out of date, but the Bukowski collector would be ill-advised to not invest in both of these before considering purchasing anything above a reading copy. Both of these books are out of print, but are readily available on used book sites for a fair price.

ephemera: It's been a thrill to discuss Bukowski ephemera. Thank you for sharing your collection with the ephemera blog.