You’ll Never, Never Know, if you Never, Never go
‘A feast of gaiety’ in Adelaide in 1936
Elegant fashions on show in 1927
An advertisement for Simpson’s baths dated 1897
The National Library of Australia has been selectively collecting printed ephemera since the early 1960s. The items (to date, well over 300 000) are an important record of Australian life, social customs, popular culture, national issues and events. In this sense, the collection is a valuable research tool for historians, writers, publishers and students.
The collection is arranged by subject across four sequences or categories:
- Performing arts (PROMPT)
- General subject topics
- Programs and invitations
- Trade catalogues of businesses and organisations, including products and services.
In his book Fragments of the Everyday: A Book of Australian Ephemera, Richard Stone tells us:
consuming ephemera impacts on everyday life. The process of advertising and selling a product or service inevitably involves the publication of ephemera, whether it is a substantial store catalogue, a flimsy flier announcing a sale, promotional brochures for new products, or junk mail in letterboxes.
Consumer-advertising ephemera appears within the trade catalogues sequence of the Ephemera Collection for which 309 new subjects are now listed in the Library’s online catalogue. The Library’s catalogue contains 10 300 catalogue descriptions for items of ephemera—all of which may be requested for viewing in the Main Reading Room. Simply adding the word ‘ephemera’ to any catalogue search will lead you to our Ephemera Collection.
Some interesting examples of the ephemera to be found in our vast collection include:
- a theatre program for the ballet from Anna Pavlova'’s Australian tour in 1926
- a flyer produced by the Communist Party of Australia titled 'Don’t Buy Japanese Onions!'
- 'Centenary Carnival Time in Adelaide', showing the 1936 celebrations in the streets
- 'The Way to Better Homes: Build with “Asbestolite” Asbestos-cement Building Products', a catalogue from around the 1950s and 1960s
- an 1897 advertisement for a Coolgardie bath, which has to be seen to be believed!
- a gorgeous brochure for Paterson, Laing & Bruce Ltd of Flinders Lane, Melbourne, advertising hats and fashions for the first showday on 2 August 1927.
Not only are these records all searchable online but it is also possible to limit either to an alphabetic sequence, year or decade, state or territory. For example, readers interested in clothing trade catalogues can request the material by decade rather than the full collection, which extends to many boxes.
Have a browse online, put in an eCallslip and enjoy the material—trade catalogues are a glimpse into history and a lot of fun besides! As a travel campaign once said ‘You’ll never, never know, if you never, never go’. We might add, ‘… go and search it!’
Janey Wallace
Ephemera Officer



