It is difficult to find and name the workers who cast, set, print, and bound the specimens that eventually made their way to the archive. At the time I was cataloging this collection, the metadata fields we us includ columns to note typeface designers, foundry names, and potential partner distributors.
There was also a column to include the object worktype Would come
Metal type” appears frequently throughout whatsapp number database spreadsheet. As I work, I notic that many of the specimens were produc with acidic paper,* intend for immiate distribution to print shops and customers.
Sometimes I or binding that expand unexpectly, or made use of additional space. I began making note of the type of structure or binding for each specimen in the object description field:
As an archivist, ephemera is endearing to me because it is a form of print matter that is not meant to endure. Cataloging ephemera transform the way I thought about time, decay, and value. Before entering the Archive, I favor examples of pristine letterpress printing and craft. Presently, I have grown fond of and admire the work that reminds us of our own temporality. Ephemera still holds a place in our lives, though its proliferation is diminishing as we move toward a more environmentally conscious world. Digital spaces have overwhelmingly become our personal platforms for documentation, record-keeping and more.
Perhaps we live in a city that still issues paper bus tickets
Write our grocery lists on australia email list sticky notes, or cram the free paper maps into our backpacks at the visitor center before a hike. Perhaps not. Think of the lifetimes that these objects live, crumpl into our pockets, or refus at cash registers who else has rights to the apartment kiosks, waiting for their turn to be useful. How might we make meaning of, archive, or begin to transform the ephemera in our lives? What can we learn from historic type ephemera, not just as records of printmaking techniques or bound structures, but as anachronisms of the present?