Print Ephemera

Explore a curated collection of authentic print ephemera, featuring antique paper items originally produced for everyday use rather than permanent keeping. This collection includes Victorian trade cards, advertising pieces, tickets, labels, brochures, promotional materials, and commercial paper goods that survived by chance and now serve as primary records of past eras. Print ephemera offers a direct window into commercial life, graphic design, and material culture, capturing how businesses communicated with consumers before the age of radio, television, and digital media. Vibrant chromolithographed Victorian trade cards, early advertising circulars, and boldly designed labels reveal evolving marketing strategies, typography, and visual trends across the late 19th and early 20th centuries. From circus advertisements and patent medicine labels to transportation tickets and store-issued promotions, these surviving paper artifacts document the language, imagery, and aesthetics of everyday commerce. Each piece reflects a moment in American consumer history, preserved not by intention, but by circumstance, offering collectors and researchers tangible insight into how goods, services, and ideas were once presented to the public.

9 pieces available