Ephemera Events & Exhibitions

Ephemera Society Fairs

It is not without some tears that we have come to the reluctant decision that the society’s Ephemera Fairs will have to be cancelled because of the ongoing restrictions imposed by the coronavirus. As soon as the situation changes an update will appear here.

Join us! The Ephemera Society is always pleased to welcome new members. Payment can be made online by PayPal.

Bracing Air, Abundant Amusements: The Travel Posters of Charles Pears

Until 25 February 2022

Bustling beaches, bathing belles and bold Art Deco design. Be transported back to the heyday of rail tourism, day trips and the British seaside holiday with the vibrant travel posters of Pontefract-born artist, Charles Pears.

A renowned marine artist, illustrator and member of the Royal Academy, this exhibition celebrates Pears in the town where he grew up and began his initial training. Focusing on his career as a commercial artist, it features works kindly lent from national collections, including designs for London Transport and British rail companies.

Admire peaceful scenes from the banks of the Thames, enjoy the bright lights of the city and soak up plenty of sun, sea, sand and sky.

• Pontefract Museum
• 5 Salter Row
• Pontefract
• WF8 1BA
• UK

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John Hassall: Illustrator and Poster Artist

22 May - 29 August 2021

During the early twentieth century, John Hassall was one of Britain’s best-known and most high-profile artists. Working across a variety of disciplines, he was a prolific book illustrator, a humorous artist for postcards and magazines, an art school founder and teacher, a painter in oils, consummate clubman, and a designer of toys, figurines, pottery and nursery decor.

But it was through his commercial illustration for travel companies, political causes, theatre and well-known brands that he made his name in an age when advertising hoardings were known as the, ‘poor man’s art gallery’. Hassall’s natural affinity for poster art, and the popularity of his creations, was to earn him the title, ‘The Poster King’.

Employing bold line, flat colours and an engagingly cheery style, Hassall’s designs had immediate impact with many creations, notably his famous, ‘Skegness is SO bracing’ poster, becoming embedded in popular culture. This exciting and beautiful exhibition seeks to explore key aspects of John Hassall’s work, and to celebrate the life of this extraordinary artist a century on from his heyday.

• Heath Robinson Museum
• Pinner Memorial Park
• 50 West End Lane
• Pinner HA5 1AE
• UK

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The Art of Advertising

Until 30 August 2021

The Art of Advertising tells the story of British advertising from the mid 18th century to the 1930s through an incredible collection of handbills, trade cards, novelties, posters and much more.

Drawing on the Bodleian’s renowned John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera, one of the largest and most important collections of printed ephemera in the world, the exhibition will reveal how advertisements reflect social attitudes over time while showcasing some of the finest examples of advertising illustration and commercial art.

• The Treasury
• Weston Library
• Broad Street
• Oxford, OX1 3BG
• UK

Online exhibtion and visitor details

Wish You Were Here: 151 Years of the British Postcard

Until 2 January 2022

Wish You Were Here celebrates and explores the iconic role the postcard has played in connecting people for more than a century and a half.

The British postcard’s history began in 1870 and 2020 marked its 150th anniversary. An innovation of its time, the postcard meant new and faster correspondence through the post.

They were used to send secret messages of love, to boost morale for soldiers at war and to boast from holidays near and afar.

Visitors can explore the postcard through history and reflect on its future with themes including romance, First World War correspondence, the Great British seaside, contemporary art and the postcard in a digital age.

• The Postal Museum
• 15-20 Phoenix Place
• London
• WC1X 0DA
• UK

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A Century of Dining Out: The American story in menus 1841-1941

Grolier Club online exhibition

View the exhibition

Henry Voigt the foremost authority on American menus -- has released an online preview of his upcoming Grolier Club exhibition, A Hundred Years of Dining Out: The American Story of Menus, 1841-1941.

Originally scheduled to open this month, the real-life exhibition has been postponed until December 7, 2022.

Academic Dress on Picture Postcards Published by Davis’s of Oxford, Their Rivals and Successors

Online article

The Burgon Society, @BurgonSoc, is an educational charity for the study of academical dress around the world.

The most recent edition of their journal is online and has an article about the academical dress on postcards by Alex Kerr and is free to read (PDF)

“Our weapon is public opinion” Posters of the women’s suffrage movement

Library, University of Cambridge, UK

View the online exhibtion

Display for the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act – the parliamentary act that finally gave some women the vote.

Wartime London
London Transport Museum

Highlights from the collection

The Underground Group, and later London Transport, produced a wide variety of public information posters during the First (1914-18) and Second (1939-45) World Wars.

The majority of wartime posters advised staff and passengers on emergency rules and regulations. Others were more overtly patriotic, often focussing on the valuable war work undertaken by transport employees.

Some WWI Underground posters urged onlookers to enlist with the armed forces. During WWII, posters were used to explain tube 'etiquette' to war workers and servicemen using the underground for the first time.

Railway posters, notices and handbills

Science Museum Group

View the collection

Encounter railway advertising and promotional material in the form of illustrated posters, printed notices and handbills. These works, including many by well-known artists, offer a fascinating record of railway style and graphic design.

Image: Detail from Thomas Cook & Son handbill 22 July 1873