The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies

SUBMITINFORMATION
EnglishTürkçe

Research Article


DOI :10.26650/bba.2021.15.01   IUP :10.26650/bba.2021.15.01    Full Text (PDF)

Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective

İshak Keskin

Ephemera, a generalized term for a variety of items originally intended for short-term use, can include the following: bank receipts, bills, bus, cinema and lottery tickets, business cards, chocolate and gum cards, cigarette boxes, deeds and other notarized documents, letters, newspaper copies, passports, photographs, pool coupons, postcards, posters, promotional brochures, restaurant menus, report cards, school diplomas, and wedding invitations. Such documents are used in today’s cultural history studies. However, difficulty in identifying ephemera comes from their features, for instance, the producing organization, production material, production number, and/or lack of a file link. Consequently, archivists do not see ephemera among institutional/personal archival records or those produced from actions/ transactions. Based on the literature’s definitions of ephemera documents and species, this study discusses questions of ephemera’s properties, source value, and methods of archivist evaluation. The study used a qualitative research method and, for data analysis, a document analysis technique.

Keywords: Ephemera, archivist, documentation strategy, historical resource, historical research
DOI :10.26650/bba.2021.15.01   IUP :10.26650/bba.2021.15.01    Full Text (PDF)

Arşivcinin Efemerası

İshak Keskin

Efemera, farklı tür ve içeriğe sahip materyale verilen genel bir isimlendirmedir. Okul diplomaları, faturalar, karneler, otobüs, sinema ve piyango biletleri, spor toto ve spor loto kuponları, gazete nüshaları, tanıtım broşürleri, mektuplar, lokanta mönüleri, tapu ve noter senetleri, banka dekontları, çikolata ve sakızlardan çıkan kartlar, sigara kutuları, posterler, pasaportlar, fotoğraflar, kartpostallar, düğün davetiyeleri, kartvizitler bu belge örneklerinden bazılarıdır. Bunlar; günümüz kültür tarihi çalışmalarında kullanılan önemli belgeler arasındadır. Ancak üretildiği organizasyon, üretim malzemesi, üretim adedi, dosya bağından yoksun olması gibi birtakım özellikler efemeranın tanımlanmasını güçleştirir. Bunun bir sonucu olarak arşivci, efemerayı kurumsal/kişisel nitelikli ve kurumların/kişilerin faaliyetleri sonucunda üretilen ve işlemler sonucunda gelen arşiv kayıtları arasında görmez. Çalışmada, efemera türü belgeler hakkında bilinen tanımlardan ve literatürde geçen efemera türlerinden yola çıkılarak efemeranın özellikleri, kaynak değeri ve özellikle de bir arşivcinin efemerayı nasıl değerlendirdiği sorularına cevap aranmıştır. Araştırmada nitel araştırma yönteminden ve durum çalışmasından yararlanılmış olup, verilerin analizi için doküman analizi tekniğine başvurulmuştur.

Keywords: Efemera, arşivci, belgelendirme stratejisi, tarihi kaynaklar, tarih araştırmaları

EXTENDED ABSTRACT


In the 17th century “ephemera” first became subject to collecting activities, with lay collectors and then museum curators, librarians, and archivists becoming interested. After the 1960s, ephemera were evaluated as a new source for history research (cultural, social, local, and city history). After the 1970s, associations were established to collect ephemera, and popular research areas influenced later developments. Simultaneously, archivists made new decisions in this direction. Until this point, the historical documentation strategy for keeping “important” resources for macro history surveys was overtaken, and archivists then extended the strategy of documenting only effective ones’ history. Now, keeping documents related to ineffective micro-history studies in archives and investigating them through these new sources have become more possible. Thus, transfer to the future of “important” resources that effectively enlighten history continued, but “unimportant” resources that ineffectively illuminate history have also begun to be transmitted. Indeed, archivists proactively gather ephemera because such documents can usually be collected not only through donations and purchases but also through field research. Archivists are also aware that they collect and value ephemera because of such documents’ individual and/or peculiar characteristics.

Furthermore, archivists recognize ephemera by certain features through which they qualify documents for access while keeping ephemera separate from naturally accumulating archival documents. Consequently, archivists do not see ephemera among institutional/personal archival records or records produced from actions/transactions. Ephemera’s features can be formulated as follow: 

1. Being produced by short-term organizations.

2. Being produced for a short-term purpose.

3. Not being produced to be saved.

4. Being irregular and without continuity.

5. Being produced in different formats.

6. Not requiring an institutional action.

7. Being produced by official and unofficial institutions.

8. Not having a/any archival bond.

9. Having its archival bond removed afterwards.

10. Not being a part of a whole / not providing a basis for an operation / not being a part of a file because of an operation.

11. Break of the institutional bond.

12. Not being involved in the wholeness of the fonds.

13. Not having a thematic context.

14. Having a resource value.

15. Having a symbolic value.

16. Having a relative resource value.

17. Changeability of utility.

18. Having disconnected parts.

19. Changeability of classification methods.

20. Not being produced by a structure that is organically connected to the archive where it is kept / Not being a natural handover material of the archive where it is kept.

21. Being nondurable.

Having some or all of these features is usually a minimum requirement for archivists to identify documents as ephemera. Based on the literature’s definitions of ephemera documents and species, this study discusses questions of ephemera’s properties, source value, and, especially, methods of archivists’ evaluations. The study used a qualitative research method and, for data analysis, a document analysis technique.


PDF View

References

  • Acland, G. (1993). Glossary. Judith Ellis (Ed.), Keeping archives (2.bs.), (s. 458-481) içinde. Port Melbourne: D. W. Thorpe and Society of Australian Archivists. google scholar
  • Acun, F. (2011). Görselden tarih yazmak. Vahdettin Engin ve Ahmet Şimşek (Ed.), Türkiye’de tarih yazımı (s. 423-434) içinde. İstanbul: Yeditepe. google scholar
  • Ataman, B. K. (Türkçeye çeviren ve genişleten). (1995). Arşivcilik terimleri sözlüğü. İstanbul: Librairie de Pera. google scholar
  • Atlansoy, K. (1997). Edebî metinlerin tarih kaynağı olarak değeri. Mübahat S. Kütükoğlu (Ed.), Tarih Boyunca Türk Tarihinin Kaynakları Semineri (6-7 Haziran 1996) Bildiriler (s. 15-25) içinde. İstanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi google scholar
  • Bardakçı, M. (2018, 19 Şubat). Bir tarihî belge katliamı. Haber Türk Gazetesi. Erişim adresi: http://www. haberturk.com/yazarlar/murat-bardakci/1843404-bir-tarihi-belge-katliami google scholar
  • Bradsher, J.G. ve Ambacher, B.I. (1992). Archival sampling: A method of appraisal and a means of retention. Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, Technical Leaflet Series, 8 (1992), 1. Erişim adresi: http:// www.marac.info/assets/documents/marac_technical_leaflet_8.pdf google scholar
  • Braudel, F. (1995). The mediterranean and the mediterranean world in the age of Philip II. California: University of California Press. google scholar
  • Burant, J. (1995). Ephemera, archives, and another view of history. Archivaria, 40, 189-198 google scholar
  • Carr, E.H. (1961). What is history? London: Macmillan. google scholar
  • Carr, E.H. (1980). Tarih nedir? (Misket Gizem Gürtürk, Çev.). İstanbul: Birikim Yayınları. google scholar
  • Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). (2003). Ephemera: The stuff of history. Report of the working party on ephemera. Thatcham: Print Apple. google scholar
  • Clark, K. (1962). The making of Victorian England. Cambridge: Mass.: Harvard University Press. google scholar
  • Coles, L. (1988). Other archival holdings: A manual for small archives. Vancouver: Archives Association of British Columbia. google scholar
  • de Beaumont, S. (2010). The ephemera society. Erişim adresi: http://www.ephemerasociety.org.uk/articles/ ephsoc.html google scholar
  • Dearstyne, B. W. (2001). Arşivsel girişim: Modern arşivcilik ilkeleri, uygulamaları ve yönetim teknikleri (M. Akbulut ve A. O. İcimsoy, Çev.). İstanbul: (y.y.). (Orijinali 1992’de yayımlanmıştır). google scholar
  • Efemeraturk. (2018). Erişim adresi: https://www.efemeraturk.com/ adresinden erişildi. google scholar
  • Ephemera. (2011). The Oxford English dictionary online. Erişim adresi: http://oxforddictionaries.com/ definition/ephemera google scholar
  • Ephemera. (2011). Online etymology dictionary içinde. Erişim adresi: http://www.etymonline.com/index. php?term=ephemera google scholar
  • Furat, M.F. (2014). Ottoman prisoners of war in Kharkiv region and Valki incident. Natalia Starostina (Ed.), Memory and mythology modern war and construction of historical memory, 1775-2000 (s. 251-278) içinde. Bethesda: Academica Press. google scholar
  • Göncüoğlu, S.F. (2010). Üçü bir arada olması gereken ilk arşivleme yöntemi; fotoğraf, efemera ve sözlü tarih çalışması. Kent Hafıza Merkezleri: Kent Kütüphaneleri, Kent Arşivleri ve Kent Müzeleri Sempozyumu -Bildiriler- (s. 327-355) içinde. Kayseri: Detay. google scholar
  • Güler, H. (2011, 9 Eylül). 10,1 milyar dolarlık Uzan davasını, Brad Pitt’in rol alacağı film gibi kazandık. Hürriyet Gazetesi, s. 8. google scholar
  • John Johnson Collection Exhibition. (2001). The ephemera of trade. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Erişim adresi: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/johnson/exhibition google scholar
  • Karakaş, H. S., Rukancı, F. ve Anameriç, F. (2009). Belge yönetimi ve arşiv terimleri sözlüğü. Ankara: Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü. google scholar
  • Kepley, D. (1984). Sampling in archives. American Archivist, 47, 125-130. google scholar
  • Keskin, İ. (2014). Arşivlerin eğitim ve kültür hizmetleri. İstanbul: Türk Edebiyatı Vakfı. google scholar
  • Keskin, İ. ve Somer, N. (2012). Efemera koleksiyonu oluşturmada arşivcinin rolü. Özgür Külcü, Tolga Çakmak ve Nevzat Özel (Yay. Haz.). Prof. Dr. Gülbün Baydur armağanı içinde (s. 35-41). Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Bilgi ve Belge Yönetimi Bölümü. google scholar
  • Keskin, İ. ve Somer, N. (2013).Efemeranın bir bilgi kaynağı olarak değerlendirilmesi. Feridun M. Emecen, İshak Keskin ve Ali Ahmetbeyoğlu (Yay. Haz.). Osmanlı’nın İzinde. Prof. Dr. Mehmet İpşirli armağanı içinde (s. 205-217), c. 2. İstanbul: TİMAŞ. google scholar
  • Ketelaar, E. (2007). Moniments and monuments: the dawn of archives as cultural patrimony. Archival Science, 7/4, 343-357. google scholar
  • Ketelaar, E. (2009). The genealogical Gaze: family identities and family archives in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. Libraries & The Cultural Record, 44/1, 9-28. google scholar
  • Kyvig, D.E. ve Marty, M.A. (2000). Yanıbaşımızdaki tarih (Nalan Özsoy, Çev.). İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları. google scholar
  • Launder, M. (2002). Saving printed ephemera: Setting priorities in preserving evidence of the everyday. Current Studies in Librarianship, 26(1/2), 67-68. google scholar
  • Makepeace, C. E. (1985). Ephemera: A book on its collection, conservation and use. Brookfield Vt. U.S.A.: Gower. google scholar
  • Menne-Haritz, A. (1999). Schlüsselbegriffe der archivterminologie (2. bs.). Marburg: Veröffentlichungen der Archivschule Marburg - Institut für Archivwissenschaft. google scholar
  • National Library of Australia. (2011). Ephemera. Erişim adresi: http://www.nla.gov.au/what-we-collect/ephemera google scholar
  • Organ, M. (1987). Ephemera in archives: What to do? (a possible solution from the University of New South Wales Archives). Archives and Manuscripts, 15, 105-118. google scholar
  • Özdenören, R. (2015). Şiir bir efemera materyalidir. Hece, 226, 6-7. google scholar
  • Pamuk, S. (2017). Arşivsel örnekleme yöntemlerinin arşiv serileri/sınıfları üzerinde uygulanması. Bilgi ve Belge Araştırmaları Dergisi. 8, 1-41. google scholar
  • Rickards, M. (1977). This is ephemera: Collecting printed throwaways. Brattleboro: Gossamer Press. google scholar
  • Rickards, M. (2000). The encyclopaedia of ephemera: A guide to the fragmentary documents of everyday life for the collector, curator, and historian. London: The British Library; New York: Routledge. Erişim adresi : http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Ephemera-Fragmentary-Documents-Collector/dp/0415926483 google scholar
  • Roberts, D. (1993). Managing records in special formats. J. Ellis (Ed.), Keeping archives (2. bs.), (s. 385-427) içinde. Port Melbourne: D. W. Thorpe and Society of Australian Archivists. google scholar
  • Sanger, G. (1926). Seventy years a showman (2nd ed.). New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. google scholar
  • Schellenberg, T.R. (1985). Principles of archival appraisal. Peter Walne (Ed.), Modern archives administration and records management. A RAMP reader (s. 269-279) içinde. Paris: UNESCO. google scholar
  • Schellenberg, T.R. (2008). Arşivsel değerlendirme ilkeleri (İlhan Bozan, Çev.). İshak Keskin (Ed.), Arşivcilik metinleri (s. 55-70) içinde. İstanbul: Yeditepe. google scholar
  • Stone, R. (1998). Junk mail: Printed ephemera and preservation of the everyday. Journal of Australian Studies, 22(58), 99-106. google scholar
  • Taylor, M.J. (2002). I’ll be your mirror, reflect what you are: Postmodern documentation and the Downtown New York scene from 1975 to the present. RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, 3(1), 32-52. google scholar
  • Tosh, J. (1997). Tarihin peşinde. Modern tarih çalışmasında hedefler yöntemler ve yeni doğrultular (Özden Arıkan, Çev.). İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları. google scholar
  • Üstün, A. (2011). Enformasyon bilimi ve teknolojisi kavramlar sözlüğü (Almanca-Türkçe / Türkçe-Almanca). İstanbul: Elit Kültür. google scholar
  • Walne, P. (Ed.). (1984). Dictionary of archival terminology. München: New York: K.G. Saur. google scholar
  • Young, T. G. (2003). Evidence: Towards a library definition of ephemera. RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, 4(1), 11-26. google scholar

Citations

Copy and paste a formatted citation or use one of the options to export in your chosen format


EXPORT



APA

Keskin, İ. (2021). Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective. The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies, 0(15), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01


AMA

Keskin İ. Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective. The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies. 2021;0(15):1-32. https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01


ABNT

Keskin, İ. Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective. The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies, [Publisher Location], v. 0, n. 15, p. 1-32, 2021.


Chicago: Author-Date Style

Keskin, İshak,. 2021. “Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective.” The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies 0, no. 15: 1-32. https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01


Chicago: Humanities Style

Keskin, İshak,. “Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective.” The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies 0, no. 15 (Aug. 2025): 1-32. https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01


Harvard: Australian Style

Keskin, İ 2021, 'Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective', The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies, vol. 0, no. 15, pp. 1-32, viewed 16 Aug. 2025, https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01


Harvard: Author-Date Style

Keskin, İ. (2021) ‘Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective’, The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies, 0(15), pp. 1-32. https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01 (16 Aug. 2025).


MLA

Keskin, İshak,. “Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective.” The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies, vol. 0, no. 15, 2021, pp. 1-32. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01


Vancouver

Keskin İ. Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective. The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies [Internet]. 16 Aug. 2025 [cited 16 Aug. 2025];0(15):1-32. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01 doi: 10.26650/bba.2021.15.01


ISNAD

Keskin, İshak. “Ephemera from an Archivist’s Perspective”. The Journal of Information and Documentation Studies 0/15 (Aug. 2025): 1-32. https://doi.org/10.26650/bba.2021.15.01



TIMELINE


Submitted04.05.2021
Accepted23.05.2021
Published Online25.06.2021

LICENCE


Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.


SHARE



Istanbul University Press aims to contribute to the dissemination of ever growing scientific knowledge through publication of high quality scientific journals and books in accordance with the international publishing standards and ethics. Istanbul University Press follows an open access, non-commercial, scholarly publishing.