Monday, November 15, 2010

The Ephemera Society of America

It's amazing all the great stuff you can find online. Take for example the website for The Ephemera Society of America. Ephemera is typically paper items that weren't meant for long term use. There are many different objects that can be called ephemera such as postage stamps, movie posters, calenders, and business cards. Although meant to be used only once or for a short amount of time, ephemera can have genealogical applications. Take World War II ration stamp books for example, they had a cover where a person wrote out their name and address. Business cards place a person at a specific occupation and location. Maps provide historical geographical information about an ancestors's locality. Postcards can provide a sneak peak into our ancestor's family, friends and their thoughts and travels.

To see a list of some items considered ephemera, see the "What is Ephemera" page of the Society website here.

One of the great aspects of this website is their list of online exhibits of ephemera. One of my favorite links in this index is the Hearts at Home: Southern Women in the Civil War exhibit.

The Ephemera Society of American website can help you think of ephemera that may be a home source or could be archived in a repository that will shed light on your ancestor's life.

1 comment:

Nancy said...

I never knew there was a society devoted to ephemera! Thanks for sharing this organization and the links with us.