Ever wonder what principles The Libary of Congress uses to guide its ephemera collection? Here (summerized and modified for use by the private collector), are the Top 5 selection principles for collecting ephemera as set forth by The Library of Congress. If you're a serious ephemera collector, you'd do well to follow similar criteria for your ephemera collection:
1. Collecting of ephemera should be organized by target (subject) areas.
2. Ephemera collecting should be prioritized. Do not collect ephemeral materials unless they are perceived to answer a high priority need within the context of your collection.
3. Ephemera collecting for any given target area should continue only so long as developments in that area remain of critical interest.
4. Additions of ephemera to your collection should supplement and enhance already existing elements of the collection.
5. Collections of ephemera should be limited to representative sampling of available source materials. Ephemeral materials by their nature tend to be repetitive in content. A careful selection of ephemeral materials will generally suffice for building on primary themes within your area of collecting interest.
What additional principles do you follow?
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