According to Merriam-Webster, ephemera are things that are important or useful for only a short time : items that were not meant to have lasting value. And yet, there are Ephemera Societies! What?! In fact, the Ephemera Society of America has been in existence for over 30 years. I had no idea there was such a thing, but they had a booth at the Antiquarian Book Fair, which caught my eye with a display of Easter egg related items. At first it seemed oxymoronic to have a Society for things that weren’t meant to last, but then there’s another definition of ephemera: paper items (as posters, broadsides, and tickets) that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles – and just because something was not MADE to be kept or collected doesn’t mean it won’t be, and these sorts of things actually have quite a bit to say about the times they are made in, so, on second thought, it does make some kind of sense.
