Victorian-Era Card Collection: An Introduction

• Post Date: 10/15/2024
• Author: Chris Gimbel, Registration Assistant, BA, ‘24, history
• Reading Time: 3 minute read

• Collections tag

A researcher often relies on written works to help interpret the social systems and beliefs of the past. Publications, by their nature, preserve the circumstances and ideas of a bygone era, and these can be observed, enjoyed, and researched by modern-day enthusiasts. Historians who have offered their insights on historical behaviors often reference essays, literature, and other written materials when attempting to understand the prevalent philosophies of a selected historical period.

Fewer studies, however, have been dedicated to discovering how the smaller, more temporary paper products could alter the marketplace of ideas. The real social influence of these small paper relics is less explored, and the ephemeral artifacts of the Spurlock Museum may provide some evidence.

Spurlock holds a collection of American advertising and greeting cards from the Victorian Era. The intention of the upcoming blog posts will be to offer a historical background on these ephemera while highlighting how advertising historians and other authors regarded these types of written artifacts as underutilized references for cultural research.

Ephemeral Literature

Rebecca Altermatt and Adrien Hilton define ephemeral literature as leaflets, flyers, broadsides, cartoons, advertisements, drawings, caricatures, and manifestos, which “provide a perspective on the past that is often not accessible through more traditional sources” made with the intention “to rally support for a cause, sell a product, or promote an organization.” Ephemera get their name from the ephemeron, a fly with a few-hour lifespan. The connotation behind this name, according to Dale Roylance, is that the printed ephemera of the past mostly shared this shortened life, and it was only through “certain imaginative collectors” saving “some of these scraps of commonplace, non-book printing” that these artifacts were not discarded and can be viewed today as important pieces of social history.