National Library of Australia’s ephemera captures nation’s values

The Canberra times has run a story about ephemera collecting at the National Library – speaking to Catherine Aldersey who many will remember from the 2014 symposium.

The journalist, John Thistleton, reports on the Library’s collecting processes for gathering advertising material:

“I get calls when people are doing cleanouts, moving house, downsizing or moving into a nursing home, or a relative has passed away,” Ms Aldersey said.

“We walk a fine line, we know people could be making money from what they have on eBay, but feel it is better if publicly available. People entrust [ephemera] to us to look after and make it available to the public.”

Here is the link.

The illustrations are not from the National Library of Australia – you will find those on the link. These come from the family collection of a woman who grew up on a sugarcane farm in Bundaberg.

Illustration from 'Sunshine farm implements catalogue', 1928. Collection of K. Houston.
Illustration from ‘Sunshine farm implements catalogue’, 1928. Collection of K. Houston.

Illustration from 'Sunshine farm implements catalogue', 1928. Collection of K. Houston.
Illustration from ‘Sunshine farm implements catalogue’, 1928.

Illustration from 'Sunshine farm implements catalogue', 1928. Collection of K. Houston.
Illustration from ‘Sunshine farm implements catalogue’, 1928.

Comments Box

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.
You need to agree with the terms to proceed

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.