The Ephemera Society News
The Ephemera Society AGM
The 2008 AGM was a notable occasion. This one was doubly so by the announcement of a new chairman and the presentation of The Pepys Medal.
The members welcomed the news of the appointment of Valerie Jackson-Harris as the new chairman. Sally de Beaumont, the Society's retiring chairman had undertook the job for seven years in which she successfully steered the Society through its most recent growth phase and provided a solid foundation for the future. During her stewardship Sally's remarkable energy enabled her to get the Society back on an even keel and it's thanks to her efforts that the Ephemera Society is today internationally recognised and respected in the field of ephemera.
The presentation of The Ephemera Society’s Pepys Medal for outstanding contributions to ephemera studies was presented to founding member Amoret Tanner by Professor Michael Twyman.
From left: Sally de Beaumont, Michael Twyman, Amoret Tanner, Valerie Jackson-Harris, Graham Hudson
In her acceptance speech Amoret praised the dealers at the Society's fairs and bazaars for their tremendous effort in keeping ephemera coming on to the market which enabled established collectors to add to their collections and for newcomers to start one.
She affirmed that the future for ephemera is very exciting by citing the University of Reading’s offering of a module on Ephemera to second year MA students and observed that what had started out as an eccentric collectable has now been promoted to an academic discipline.
E stipula ventum: From the straw, the wind Ephemera Society Motto
In Maurice Rickards Collecting Printed Ephemera, first published in 1988, he tells of the origin of the motto. John Selden (1584-1654), whose collection of ballads Samuel Pepys built upon, commented of the role of ephemera as “straws in the wind”.

Engraving of John Selden by W. Hall
Shortly before his death Selden’s secretary recorded the following passage under the heading Libells - the name given to transient matter of all kinds:
Though some may make slight of Libells, yet you may see by them how the wind sits; as take a straw and throw it up into the air, you shall see by that which way the wind is. What you shall not do by casting up a stone - More solid things do not show the complexion of the times so well as ballads and libells.
History At Your Fingertips
The Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (ncse)
A new online edition of 19th century newspapers and periodicals provides a rich digital resource of Victorian politics, philosophy and life as seen through the eyes of contemporary journalists.
Free, easily accessible and fully searchable for users based anywhere in the world, the titles range from an early feminist paper to a radical social reformist broadsheet and satirical illustrated weekly.
- Tomahawk: a satirical illustrated contemporary of Punch
with elaborate, full-page cartoons
- English Woman's Journal: an early women's magazine published and set by women
- Northern Star: a social reformist newspaper, which gave
away portraits of notable Chartists and at its height had nine editions on a single day
- Publishers' Circular: a trade magazine from the
publishing industry with lavish illustrations
- Leader: a mid-century political weekly, which began
by printing Town and Country editions
- Monthly Repository: a long-lived theological and
philosophical monthly.
The Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (ncse), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, is a unique digital resource, which gives the user an informative, accessible and authentic experience of 19th century newspapers. The collection illustrates the phenomenal growth and transformation of the press in the 19th century and brings to life a society and century in flux.
http://www.ncse.kcl.ac.uk/
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