Shelley Howells: Packrats now 'ephemerists'

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Packrat, hoarder - whatever term you choose, I'm it. The spare room has a couple of large boxes full of stuff I can't find the heart to bin.

There's the 1969 (ouch) first nursery school report, kept if only to have firm evidence that there was a time when I was considered thoughtful and polite and full of enthusiasm. How quickly that turned to "satisfactory", even "a bit off-colour of late".

But chequebook butts from 1985 (believe it or not, the doctor cost $13, and the gas bill came to $8); gossip passed round class in the 70s; tinsel saved from a 1981 school dance; a note that reads, "Murray, have gone to the bottle store, back in 5 mins."

It all made little sense until I discovered ephemera. The web's spare rooms are crammed with it.

The Ephemera Society of America's site explains that ephemera is "a term used to embrace a wide range of minor, everyday documents, most intended for one-time or short-term use".

The site is a gathering point for the thousands who are attracted to ticket stubs, leaflets, postcards, baseball cards anything that anyone in their right mind would have chucked out decades ago.

Britain's Ephemera Society's web page features an "ephemera item of the month", currently the cover of an 1888 bulb catalogue.

Ephemera Now is a vision of stylish beauty, preserving advertising and illustration art of mid-century America. Ravishing images of happy housewives, hat-wearing, pipe-chewing husbands and apple-cheeked kids are featured. Do have a look at the 1953 ad in which a woman is beside herself with delight at getting a vacuum cleaner for Christmas: "Give her a Hoover and you give her the best."

There's even money in the stuff: the Ephemera Catalogue sells everything, including "archival packaging supplies", blotters, "breweriana", Americana and Canadiana, menus, railroadiana, timetables - even old cheques!

There's Kiwi ephemera online too. Auckland City Libraries' site has a searchable index of their collections (dating from the 1800s to today) which include ephemera that can be viewed in the special collections reading room. There are a few scanned examples, such as the programme from the Torville and Dean World Tour (1985), and a 1900s "pigeongram" sent to Great Barrier.

On the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand site, there is an index of their collections, held in Wellington, which include ephemera such as posters from the coalition in support of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill.

The National Library boasts 130,000 items of printed ephemera. Their glorious digital collections include items (tram tickets, theatre brochures, old workplace safety posters, you name it) that you can print out for personal use, or order online.

For scrapbookers, ephemera is an addictive hobby. Not content with cheapo plastic boxes randomly crammed with the objects formerly known as junk, they artfully arrange their ephemera and photos in fancy scrapbooks. They take classes ( you need more than a glue stick and ticket stub here) and attend scrapbooking events, have collections of fancy scissors and pens and designer acid-free paper.

It seems to have started in the United States and has spread here in recent years. Local sites include those of retailers NZ Scrapbook and Scrapbookers' Delight. Check out some examples of scrapbooks on the Kiwi Scraps' gallery.

So my movie ticket stub ($3.50!) to Cannonball Run isn't junk any more. I'm not a packrat, I'm an ephemerist, part of a proud tradition harking back centuries (think Victorian-era postcard scrapbooks).

* Email Shelley Howells