“Ephemera” is the catch all term for the miscellaneous category of printed or handwritten materials intended to be kept for a short time then discarded. Greeting cards, calendars, ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, broadsides, and even match boxes are examples of ephemera. Advances in printing technology, such as chromolithography (the process of printing in color), die cutting and embossing, allowed presses to create ornate advertisements that could be kept as keepsakes or art. Examples shown in this exhibit include a lithographic prospectus, a die-cut paper doll, a colored wood engraving business card, a colored wood engraving keepsake, and a lithographic scroll dating from the 1880s to the present.
The exhibit will be on display in Ellis 401 until the end of September. Come on down and stop on by!