The Ephemera Collection

The very act of conceiving, designing, producing and distributing a printed object ascribes it value and meaning. So the question is: how to unpack what these values and meanings are, and how they interconnect with larger histories, or not? Each artefact must be considered against what is known of its larger cultural context(s) and the history of print culture in general – both globally and locally. For example, ephemera, through the Auckland Central City Library collection, tells us something of the unheralded interests and aspects of daily life; but the collection also retains residue of larger narratives and value systems.

The items of ephemera are not containers of ‘little narratives’ per se, but evidence of them. Accordingly, it is not simply artefacts of themselves that are of interest - so too are personal accounts of how specific items were selected and accumulated; and their production and expedition into the library collection.

Furthermore, the collection is not complete. It contains a slice of all possible material produced at each time frame. Therefore it is not a comprehensive or exclusive representation of Ephemera, assigning a quality of ephemerality to the collection itself. The very notion: collection of ephemera, or, ephemera collection; therefore presents a paradox.

Having noted the above, and being aware of pre-existing hierarchies of cultural information and artefacts, there are observations that can be made regarding particular aspects of the collection that may offer clues to unknown and/or alternative New Zealand histories; as well as a consideration of the function and development of print culture (and design) in relationship to those histories and society in general.