Topic: Ephemera
Topic Type: Series
Hamilton City Libraries Ephemera Collection
Ephemera is printed matter that is produced for a specific purpose and is not intended to be preserved. (Think of advertising flyers, sports or theatre programmes, posters and pamphlets for example.) A lot of this material is distributed to your letter box every day (no, we don't save all of it!) Sometimes we think of this material as just "junk" but because it advertises political, commercial, cultural and community events and policies it is a good record of the social history of a particular place and time.
At Hamilton City Libraries we collect ephemera from Hamilton and the Waikato region. Most of the collection dates from the 1970s on but some categories have material from as early as the late 1800s. The three advertisements shown above are from 1937 and 1938.
Some of the topics covered are: the arts, music (Hamilton Civic Choir and Orchestra, Hamilton Operatic Society, Hamilton Chamber Music Society), theatre, sport and other recreational pursuits, politics particularly local government elections, health, community events and organisations, education (early childhood, schools, university and polytech), religion, community organisations and events.
Our three programmes above show design styles of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s.
For any enquiries about HCL's ephemera collection or if you would like to look at any of the ephemera, please contact us or ask at the information desk on Level 3 of the Garden Place Library. There just may be something there to illustrate your project or assignment.
