What we collect

See also: Using the collection

Ephemera

The National Library has been selectively collecting ephemera since the early 1960s as a record of Australian life and social customs, popular culture, national events, and issues of national concern.

The collection is arranged and indexed by subject across five key sequences:

The kinds of material in the collection includes publications of less than five pages as well as pamphlets, leaflets, handbills, invitations, cards, menus, junk mail etc. Larger publications, such as theatre programs or retail trade catalogues, are also included. Information content, visual and design elements, period representation, portraiture are the key elements taken into consideration when the Library selects items of ephemera.

We aim to collect Federal election campaign materials as comprehensively as possible, including websites and, efforts are made to form collections which document specific events (eg the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, 2008 World Youth Day, Year of the Surf Life Saver).

 

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