What is ephemera? Meaning, examples and how to keep it
Ephemera is paper made to be used once and thrown away: tickets, receipts, labels, postcards, programmes. Kept, it becomes a record of a day. The word is both singular and plural.
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The word comes from the Greek ephemeros, lasting a day. Collectors use Maurice Rickards' phrase for it: the minor transient documents of everyday life.
In scrapbooks and junk journals it means the bits of paper glued in beside photos. The table sorts them by where they come from.
See also: what a junk journal is, junk journal supplies, scrapbook pockets for loose paper, a junk journal kept on a screen.
Make a digital scrapbook
Add your photos and keepsakes in tbf scrapbook, then arrange them on the pages. Make a digital scrapbook online.
| Kind | Examples | On a page |
|---|---|---|
| Travel | Train and bus tickets, boarding passes, maps, luggage tags | Tuck a ticket into a pocket so the date on its back can still be read |
| Food and shops | Receipts, menus, sugar sachets, paper bags, labels | Flatten a bag or label under a heavy book overnight before gluing |
| Post | Envelopes, stamps, postcards, letters | Cut the stamp and postmark out together; the postmark carries the date and town |
| Events | Gig and theatre tickets, programmes, wristbands, flyers | Fold a programme into a booklet and stitch it into the spine |
| Home | Seed packets, sewing patterns, recipe cards, wrapping paper | Use a large sheet as the page background rather than an item on it |
| Vintage | Old book pages, sheet music, ledgers, market postcards | Glue in a copy of a rare piece and keep the original loose |
Cheap paper does not last
Most ephemera is printed on cheap paper that yellows and can stain the photo beside it. Till receipts on thermal paper can fade to blank, so photograph or scan anything you want to read later.
Where to find it
Most of it is already in your bag, your post and the kitchen drawer. Older pieces turn up at car boot sales, flea markets and inside second-hand books.
Ephemera in a digital book
Photograph a ticket flat, in daylight, from straight above. In the tbf scrapbook studio a photographed keepsake can be straightened, cut out and placed on the page like a sticker.
Steps
Collect for a week
Keep an envelope in your bag and drop in every ticket, label and receipt you are handed.
Date the backs
Pencil the date and place on the back of each piece while you still know them.
Pair it with photos
Give each photo one piece of ephemera from the same day, not a pile.
Fix it so it can be read
Glue only the top edge or use a pocket, so the back can still be turned over.
Questions
Is ephemera singular or plural?
Both. English uses ephemera for one item and for many. Ephemeron, the Greek singular, is rarely used.
What is digital ephemera?
To crafters, scans of old paper sold to print or place in a digital journal. To archivists, short-lived online things such as emails and web pages.
Is ephemera worth anything?
Most is worth more to the person who kept it than to anyone else. Early or rare pieces, such as Victorian trade cards and posters, are collected and sold at auction.