About Caitlin Angelone
Welcome!
My love of ephemera began before I even truly knew what it was, cherishing the postcards that I would receive as a young girl from my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Steve in their travels. I’d spend hours sitting and imagining what their day was like and inventing intricate tales of the exotic locales they visited, all inspired by the little picture on the front.
As I got older, I began collecting these postcards as well as pamphlets and advertisements that struck a chord with me, pasting them neatly within my journal or the volumes of scrapbooks I was accumulating. I felt like I was doing my part to help preserve these fleeting moments of history, no matter how small.
At some point, I realized that my passion for material culture would be best utilized by getting my Masters of Library Science; this allowed me to delve deep into the world of ephemera in a professional setting, preserving and researching these little snapshots into another time.
My main goal is to inspire others to look at the ephemera in their lives and how it connects to others, past and present. Ephemera shows us what the history books don’t always cover; the day to day life of regular folks throughout history and that while so many things have changed over time, people’s hopes and dreams are strikingly similar to our own.
Why ephemera?
To me, these bits of paper connect current humanity to life in the past. When looking at an ephemeral object we often see something in it that we can connect to. We feel nostalgia or are possibly flooded with memories. Ephemera reminds us that we are all humans and trying to access the same needs throughout history.
Highlighted ephemera item of the week
What do I collect?
My collection largely focuses on:
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Travel and Health Resorts: Mostly postcards, but I also like to collect pamphlets with striking imagery or other memorabilia like swizzle sticks, cocktail napkins, or toothpicks. I also have a few travel scrapbooks, mainly from the 50's-60's.
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Women's Health and Beauty: From medications to lipstick, I focus on images and advertisements used for marketing and how that has shaped the female image. Range of dates is large.
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Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs: I collect pamphlets, tourist maps, post cards, and any other item you may have picked up on your visit.
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Imagery of the Devil/Satan: (because, hey, who doesn't love a little Satan in their lives?)
What else do I do?
I like knitting, boxing, wrestling (WWE style), baking, horror, board and RPG games, and hanging at my local dive bar talking to the people. My preferred drink is a Gin and Tonic, but I also don't mind a Lager bottle.
2015 - Master of Library and Information Science, Drexel University
2021 - Certificate in XML and RDF-Based Systems, Library Juice Academy
2019- Exploring Ephemera, Rare Book School
2016 - The History of the Book, Rare Book School