What is ephemera?

Ephemera are things that exist, are used or enjoyed for only a short time.

Items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity and were meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles. The word derives from the Greek ephemeros, meaning "lasting only one day, short-lived". Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogs, greeting cards, pamphlets, postcards, posters, defunct stock certificates or tickets, and magazines. There are large academic and national libraries and museums that collect, organize, and preserve ephemera as history. A large and important example of such an archive is the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Over 2,000 images from this collection are available to search online for free at VADS and more than 65,000 items are available online. The extensive Laura Seddon Greeting Card Collection from Manchester Metropolitan University gathers 32,000 Victorian and Edwardian greeting cards and 450 Valentine's Day cards dating from the early nineteenth century.

By extension, video ephemera and audio ephemera refer to transitory audiovisual matter not intended to be retained or preserved. Surprisingly, the great bulk of video and audio expression has, until recently, been ephemeral. Preserving old movies and radio and tv broadcasts has become an art unto itself.