Ephemeral by Design: Organizing the Everyday

Ephemera are traces of the everyday—materials, usually printed, designed to be read or consumed in some way and then discarded. From bus tickets to party invitations, dance cards to advertisements, these items form the texture of social and commercial exchange. As such, the ephemera showcased in Ephemeral by Design: Organizing the Everyday reveal different cultural values of the past: reading habits, consumer preferences, aesthetic sensibilities. Whether studied as forensic evidence of a bygone era or as a link in the progression of printing history, ephemera can almost always be appreciated for their wry messages, bold color schemes, or innovative designs.