ACT Heritage Library Ephemera Collection

Ephemera is produced for a specific and immediate purpose and intended to be thrown away. Some examples of ephemera include posters, brochures, flyers/dodgers, programs, tickets, invitations, menus, catalogues and paper-based promotional items such as coasters and napkins. We collect it because

It is often the only record of an event, particularly of short lived organisations and reactive events
It provides documentary evidence of business, community, social and cultural life
It offers evidence of trends in communication, psychology of selling, consumerism, fashion, art and design
It has a display value

The collection is extensive and dates back to the very beginnings of the ACT. It is divided into three main categories:

General Ephemera	General Ephemera file titles (389kb) (341kb)
Posters	List of broad subject areas (44kb) (98kb)
Performing Arts	Venues and performing arts companies (389kb) (341kb)
	Items in this collection are being listed either by venue or by production company. Canberra Theatre Centre 1965-2006 (2.1mb) (3.5mb) Australian National University Venues, 1965-2006 (1.6mb) (2.5mb) You can also find details of our holdings and productions in the Ausstage database.

For more information or to use the ephemera collection, please contact the ACT Heritage Library.