Ephemera, the random debris of history, has long been considered insufficiently important and too difficult to identify to sell. Books almost always have a known author, title, place and date printed. They may be in demand or not, their subjects currently relevant or not, they usually have a history of transactions to guide buyers and sellers. For ephemera, not so much.
But the Internet has happened and one of the outcomes of the explosion of information on line has been to clarify ephemera that often used to be consigned to debris boxes. That’s changing.
When first collecting material related to Ulster County 65 years ago, the list of related books was brief, many of them close to impossible to acquire. Fortunately, Poughkeepsie had a busy auction house, Cal Smith’s, where you could paw through upcoming lots and try your luck. Known titles would be hawked and change hands for a few dollars. As for the ephemera, in Cal’s world, it was “Here’s a couple of boxes of junk! Oh pardon hysterians!! Let’s start the bidding at a dollar.”
When the old paper was appealing, Cal ever the enterprising auctioneer, would encourage you to dream your dream and hope you’ll find something worthwhile in the pile. The auctions were great entertainment and occasionally you found value. And if you bought the stuff you also bought yourself a demanding job.
Over the past 65 years I bought quite a bit of ephemera, a significant portion relating to the Hudson Valley. And now, I’m at the point that I need to dispose that which I have pursued those many years, now face the challenge to organize and explain this type of material to be quite different from books. In my case, it seems likely I’ll have to organize, lot and describe what will be, for most people, deeply arcane collectible paper.
I recently spent a month documenting my collection of Munselliana, that is material related to Joel Munsell, the 19th century Albany, New York printer. In his classic account of his printing career, he lists print jobs he produced during the period 1834-1871. Two thousand two hundred and sixty-eight jobs were identified and their print quantities given for 990 of them – making it possible for me to develop the theory of probability of reappearance.
As to how much of that stuff I have, about 500 items and I’ve created three databases relating to Joel’s books, pamphlets and almanacs. When my collection of Hudson River material is sold Munselliana will be one of the 400 lots in the sale.
Other categories will be letters, photographs, maps, ledgers, stock certificates, coins and paper money, postcards, objects, broadsides and company records. Some of those lots will be very complex.
Net net, consider my experience as a heads up about how to handle ephemera if you get seriously into the weeds. Expect you’ll be doing at least the preliminary cataloguing whether you send it into the rooms or to gift it to an institution. By building a collection of this arcane material you are also becoming its expert. Plan for it.
