I keep coming across collections of Ephemera in public libraries and museums.. and want to bring them to your attention.

The most recent one I found is at the Tamiment Library at the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives (NYU Libraries). Here’s a description from their site:

The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University form a unique, internationally-known center for scholarly research on Labor and the Left. The primary focus is the complex relationship between trade unionism and progressive politics and how this evolved over time. Archival, print, photograph, film, and oral history collections describe the history of the labor movement and how it related to the broader struggle for economic, social, and political change.

In 1977 the Robert F. Wagner Archives was established as a joint program of the New York City Central Labor Council and the Tamiment Library. The Wagner is the designated repository for the records of the Council’s more than 200 member unions. Today the Library has an extraordinary research collection documenting the history of organized labor in New York and the workers who built the City.

Tamiment has one of the finest research collections in the country documenting the history of radical politics: socialism, communism, anarchism, utopian experiments, the cultural left, the New Left, and the struggle for civil rights and civil liberties. It is the repository for the Archives of Irish America, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, and a growing Asian American labor collection.

You can Read more about the history of the Tamiment Library through this link.

The collection that caught my eye is called the Tamiment Library Printed Ephemera Collections and consist of some 1 million items, including broadsides, leaflets, flyers, manifestoes, reports, reprints, serials, clippings, pamphlets, and internal documents generated by a wide spectrum of labor and left-wing organizations.

Two of some 350 or so items are shown here. Looking through the rest was very interesting and I recommend that you take a look. I’m sure you will find it interesting.

There are a number of other Ephemera collections at the library which I again recommend you peruse. You will hopefully find it as interesting as I did.

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or at my Bonanzle Booth
or at my Zen Cart

I’ve even got an eBay Auction site for collectibles

Technorati tags: Encore Ephemera, Ephemera, Ephemera Network

The Alameda Library in California has a very interesting video in its Ephemera section entitled “Neptune Beach Revisited”. It’s narrated by a fellow named Dan X. Solo who apparently is one of a very few living people who can remember and reminisce about the famous amusement park of the depression days. He also talks a bit about the signage at the park.. and the wish that he had collected some of it – what we would surely call Ephemera! I’ve embedded the video here, but be sure to visit the site as it has a lot more to offer than this video.

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or at my Bonanzle Booth
or at my Zen Cart

I’ve even got an eBay Auction site for collectibles

Technorati tags: Encore Ephemera, Ephemera, Ephemera Network

Over the last few months I have spent a great deal of time reviewing some of the newer (at least to me) Ephemera sites that I have uncovered across the world wide web.

But I have (somewhat intentionally as he was building and updating his site) skipped over the site of a fellow I met over the internet… who I am pleased to call a friend. Cliff Aliperti is the owner of a terrific site entitled “things and other stuff” located at, not surprisingly, www.things-and-other-stuff.com.

Cliff comes from a small town on Long Island, NY, not far from where I grew up, and as he puts it has been selling collectibles pretty much his entire life. Starting out with baseball cards (don’t all LI kids collect baseball cards?) he has moved through a number of different collectibles until he fell into his current specialty… Movie Cards and Collectibles. His collection ranges from what was referred to as the “Silent Period” through the 1950′s, and then into the present. Cliff sells pretty much full time and things-and-other-stuff.com is just one of his collectible related websites… such as the VintageMeld where he discusses “general collecting and collectibles, the objects and the pursuits” (he has recently incorporated the Vintage Meld into the main things-and-other-stuff website).

As mentioned above, Cliff has spent a lot of time, and missed countless hours of sleep, redesigning his website…. and it looks great! He has a ton of information all neatly and conveniently arranged on the various pages. He even has a section dedicated to the birthdays of the stars. Did you know that W.C. Fields was born January 29, 1880 … or that he died Christmas day, 1946?

One of the other things I like a lot about Cliff’s site is how he has tastefully incorporated a number of tools and gadgets into the site. He has an array of YouTube videos placed throughout the site, but also has links to his MovieCardsForSale.com page on Facebook and a few “Gadgets by Google”. The site has three basic sections ../movie-collectibles, ../vintagemeld, and ../magazines. More recently Cliff has been working on a Zen store which is located here.

Regardless of your Ephemera interests, you owe it to yourself to visit Cliff Aliperti’s home on the world wide web.  You’ll find lots of interesting items and links that will keep you busy for quite some time… and who knows, you may just find that “something” you’ve been hunting for.

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.

Have a look at my eBay Ephemera store
or have a look at my eBay Auction site
(Due to travel, there may not be any items listed at this point in time)

Technorati tags: Encore Ephemera, Ephemera, Ephemera Network, things and other stuff