By Annika Dekker, Historic Visual Culture Graduate Assistant
As I look forward to graduating from UMSI this spring, I am immensely grateful to the William L. Clements Library for the opportunities it has given me to engage with the professional world of libraries, museums, and archives. Earlier this month, I traveled to Old Greenwich, CT to present at Ephemera 45, the Ephemera Society of America’s annual conference. I presented my work with our Ephemera Collection, from the beginning of the project to details of my process to updates on where the project currently sits. It is almost finished! My last few months at the Clements will involve labeling boxes and writing the finding aid for this collection. Afterwards, I was able to engage in many wonderful conversations with ephemera collectors and dealers about how they organize their collections! I also got to meet graduate students from the Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library that are writing master’s theses that involve ephemera.
Throughout the conference, I also got to listen to many great presentations about ephemera. I heard Phillipa Pitts, a former fellow at the Clements Library, talk about her work on the art history of pharmaceuticals in antebellum America. The theme for this year’s conference was “Invention and Innovation,” so I also heard collectors and archivists speak on topics such as how amusement park rides evolved, how birth control was advertised in the mid-to-late 20th century, and the development of the psychedelic poster art movement in California. I learned so much about how ephemera can teach us about different parts of history!
Without the support of my colleagues as well as Clements Library Associates, I would not have had this wonderful chance to present my work and meet other like-minded academics and collectors. I am excited to be a member of the Ephemera Society of America. Ephemera 45 was a fascinating experience and I look forward to attending next year’s conference.
