Everything Put Together…
We older generations…help the process of future scarcity along by obliviously throwing out this modern 'junk'.1
As someone who's frequently been described as "a bit of a hoarder", I've often wondered about what (exactly) motivates people like myself to hang on to 'junk' that others would dump in the bin without a second thought.
There are, obviously enough, certain objects (letters etc.) that are generally considered too precious to casually dispose of. Indeed, it's likely one would be considered rather heartless and cold if one displayed too cavalier an attitude to such personal items. Nobody, in other words, would ever describe the careful archiving of photographs (etc.) as evidence of 'hoarder-ism' or obsessiveness. The question is, where does one draw the line? At what point does an acceptable level of archival interest tip, neurotically, towards the world of 'the hoarder'?
Most (reasonably sane) hoarders would, I'd imagine, have an interest in 'ephemera': fragile objects born into an uncaring world where they flicker briefly before disappearing into the void (or the landfill site).
The reasons for the appeal of ephemera are no doubt complex (and many), but my interest in such material owes less to any particular affinity for 'kitsch' , and more to the way it can remind us of the fragility of 'history' and memory. For every 'significant' cultural product that has been preserved, restored, archived, admired, dissected and discussed, there are thousands of pieces of ephemera in danger of slipping out of the 'physical world'…into memory…and then on into the nothingness of the forgotten.
The preservation of 'robust', prestigious works may indeed be a worthy enterprise, but there's undoubtedly a vivid poignancy associated with the cultural object that's on its last legs…dumped, erased, unloved, left to disintegrate etc.
While doing a bit of internet digging I stumbled upon the website of The Ephemera Society of America, whose mission is "to cultivate and encourage interest in ephemera and the history identified with it". Nothing surprising about the existence of such a body of course, since the valuing of the pop-cultural and the disposable etc., seems a distinctly (though by no means uniquely) American preoccupation.
This begs the question: If American ephemerists collect 'Americana', what do Irish ephemerists collect? 'Hiberniana'? A further question: Are there even that many ardent ephemerists in this country? Perhaps they're all simply labelled 'hoarders'…
A clue to the particular 'American-ness' of certain kinds of ephemera is suggested by John C. Dann:
Much of 'ephemera' was originally a by-product of exuberant capitalism – largely advertising material made possible by advances in printing technology.2
Perhaps Irish capitalism simply wasn't exuberant enough to generate the kind of stuff (food packaging, promotional material etc) that's of most interest to contemporary ephemerists…although I'm sure there must be someone out there who's tracked the developments in "Tayto packet design through the ages".
Anyway, I must be off now as I need to go through my wallet and properly archive two years' worth of receipts, boarding-card stubs, and bus tickets…
January 30, 2006
