Music Ephemera within Library Collections: A Review of the Literature

ABSTRACT

While interest in including music ephemera in library collections continues to grow, there has been very little research into why it is important to collect and maintain such material within library collections, or the best ways to manage music ephemera collections. This paper presents an examination of research on the need for music ephemera in library collections along with the challenges involved in managing such collections. The literature review is synthesised from research gathered from 40 publications from countries including; New Zealand (UK), Australia, the United States of America (USA), Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK), and the date range of literature spans from 1941 to 2019 inclusive. It briefly examines the history of music and performing arts ephemera collections and looks at best practice for the management of ephemera in library collections including printed and e-ephemera. Content analysis was used to identify major research topics. As there is very little literature on music ephemera, it also explores the importance of performing arts and arts ephemera collections in libraries, with a focus on collecting and managing collections, along with the best practices for the digitisation of ephemera going forward. On the basis of the review, future research directions are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Ephemera
• music ephemera
• library collections
• cultural materials
• collection management

Introduction

Since the early 1980s, there has been growing interest around the inclusion of ephemera within some music library collections (Bashford, 2008, p. 459). Despite this, there has been very little research done into why it is important to collect and maintain such material or the best ways to manage music ephemera collections.

This literature review project aims to collect and analyse previous scholarly research on music ephemera to gain a better understanding of the research gaps within the collection and management of music ephemera within library collections and develop an understanding of the cultural importance of maintaining music ephemera within these collections.

Generally, there has been little literature published in this field; with music ephemera usually being included within arts ephemera papers. The literature that has been published includes: conference papers, literature reviews, case studies and qualitative studies.

Literature was found using keyword searches of peer-reviewed literature in the Queensland University of Technology’s search platform (pre-2017 QUT used Exlibris’s Summon and post 2017 they use Alma/Primo as their search provider) and Google Scholar. The literature reviewed includes a date range spanning from 1941 to 2019 inclusive to provide accurate information and analysis of current and best practice, along with seminal works, as these form a historical background for the concepts discussed.

While many specialised music libraries include music ephemera within their collections, many broader library institutions that maintain music collections have foregone the inclusion of these collections (Taylor Gibson, 2019, p. 3). Therefore, this field needs further research to understand the importance of maintaining ephemera within broader collections. The themes examined are: the importance of including music ephemera in library collections; the management of music ephemera collections, with a focus on the challenges involved with the acquisition of music ephemera; retention of ephemera items; cataloguing and classification of materials, and the digitisation of materials. In many cases, these studies overlap. The following review critically examines the literature and found gaps within the literature surrounding management in relation to the retention of older collections of music ephemera and the academic discussion around the cultural value in music ephemera.

Literature Analysis

Definition

As there is relatively little research available on music ephemera, this literature review will also focus on literature relating to arts and performing arts ephemera, which encompasses music ephemera.

Ephemera (including arts ephemera and music ephemera) needs to be defined before discussion can take place around its importance within collections as well as how best to catalogue and classify it. Ephemera has been defined as everyday items manufactured for a specific, limited use, and usually intended to be discarded thereafter, especially printed matter on paper (Young, 2003, p. 13). More recently, Collins (2008) defined music ephemera as items such as sheet music, flyers, programs and tickets associated with the promotion of music (Collins, 2008, p. 320). This is a very physical-object based definition, which doesn’t encapsulate digital ephemera. Richard Stone came up with a more general definition for arts ephemera, which is the umbrella term under which music ephemera often falls, ‘evidence of the culture of the every day’ (Stone, 1998, p. 99).

Further to this, Pollard (2016, p. 92) provides this definition:

‘Cultural products, in whatever current format, which have a significant visual content and which were designed and generally produced for short term, often disposable, utilitarian purposes, but which, when subsequently viewed together, reveal evolving social and cultural concerns and the creative and technical processes in vogue at the time of their making and which have the potential for inspiring further artistic creation.’

McKinstry (2016, p. 460) concurs with this definition adding that, for historians as well as private and institutional collectors, it is memorabilia that provides evidence about how our forebears lived.

Popular music resources in particular fall under the loose heading of ephemera. Fan-generated publications, publicity photos, posters, press releases, set lists, concert programs, and tickets all fall under this umbrella and are vital to understanding the history of a performing artist or music movement (Caw, 2004, p. 51).

Further, Davis (2005, p. 2) argues for the importance of clarifying the meaning of ‘ephemera’, stating that it was essential to understanding that this transitory data ‘fill in the gaps’ in library collections. This leads to the next theme: importance.

Importance

The importance of keeping music ephemera amongst library collections has been long known by music librarians, and yet, there is often resistance from larger more generalised libraries with music collections around keeping ephemera collections (Taylor Gibson, 2019, p. 3). Furthermore, there has been very little academic research to validate why it is important to collect music ephemera within library collections.

Phillpot (1995, p. 13) suggests that one of the principal functions of libraries, including arts libraries, is that they collect, preserve, and record items that might otherwise disappear and that librarians are always contesting ephemerality of materials. Reitsamer (2018, p. 31) touches on this issue; stating that as it is impossible to collect and preserve everything, choices have to be made which for their part rest on interpretations and assumptions about a given object’s ‘cultural significance’, or, conversely, its treatment as rubbish. Further, Taylor Gibson (2019, p. 3) asserts that as impossible as the problem of how to preserve so many things might seem, far more difficult is how to circumvent the natural privileging of the influential and powerful so that the recreation of a local soundscape becomes possible in the confines of the archive.

However, when describing the importance of including arts ephemera within a library collection, Davis (2005) mentions that one of the most valuable roles that ephemera can play in providing a visual context for understanding the various aspects of a time, is to be used as a basic reference tool and as a source of primary materials. Cooke (2006, p. 34) agrees, stating that art ephemera have many qualities that make them a valuable resource, because they have a directness, being produced at the specific time by those involved and that they may be used by the artist as documentation, or to provide a context for the art. Furthermore, Cooke (2006) also suggests that the site or context of art ephemera affects how the ephemera function. She explains further that ‘Library collections contain material that is de-contextualised, which we re-contextualise by the way we arrange, describe, and provide access to it’ (Cooke, 2006, p. 38).

Similarly, ephemera can be used to document an event or the activities of participants after the event has finished, acting as an archive. In other words, it can provide a context that may not otherwise be shown through traditional library materials such as ‘what music was composed and performed, when, by whom, under what circumstances, and with what relationship to the whole social life of the people’ (Grout, 1941, p. 9).

One of the earliest pieces written on the importance of ephemera was written as part of Epstein’s paper on collecting materials for local music histories. It begins, ‘Anyone who has tried to gather information on the development of American music knows how greatly the resources of our public libraries vary’ (Epstein, 1967, p. 18). Epstein stated that this task should not daunt a librarian, as all that is needed is the conviction that this material should be preserved, and that the local library is the logical place to do it (Epstein, 1967, p. 18; Walker, 2003).

Coover (1993) stated that other than James Fuld’s 1981 article about two types of musical ephemera, posters and programs, there had not been much written about the importance of music ephemera. Lamenting, ‘How has it escaped inquiry? It cannot be ignored; it is vast, diverse, and difficult to handle, yet we have had to deal with it, in some fashion, since the invention of printing’ (Coover, 1993, p. 349). Furthermore, Coover described music ephemera as the ‘waste of today, the evidence of tomorrow’ (Coover, 1993, p. 350).

Bashford (2008) found that artist and art subject file collections contain important primary source ephemera for art historical research. However, a large percentage of contemporary ephemera is not being collected. While this pertains more to art ephemera collections the sentiment still rings true for music ephemera. Bashford (2008, p. 459) continues, stating that ‘In the early 1990s much of the concert ephemera was lying in wait for British musicologists’. This happened in a range of music collections and some of the first significant publications in the field were produced around this time. Since then, much more material has come to researchers‘ attention, as the value of concert ephemera to the scholarly community has continued (Bashford, 2008, p. 459).

Caw (2004) suggests that librarians and other information providers could better serve music scholars by acknowledging the vitality of the field and developing core collections of recordings, as well as seeking to acquire personal collections of recordings, memorabilia and ephemera. In terms of value to researchers, Bennett and Rogers (2016, p. 29) suggest that, from the point of view of cultural memory theorists, the production of cultural memory emerges from a complex interplay between individuals, and the everyday consumption of objects, images and texts that comprise music ephemera serve to present ideas about the past and its bearing on the present., Likewise, from a teaching and learning perspective, McMullan and Cobley (2017, p. 94) found that interacting around objects facilitates powerful conversations about collection management, and that teachers and students come to appreciate the research value in working with heritage collections. Willsteed (2018, p. 163) found that ephemeral material gathered by fans in the late 1970s, including handbills and posters, recordings and radio shows, photographs and film/video footage and punk fanzines were instrumental in providing context for the State Library of Queensland’s collection on Brisbane’s underground music scene in the 1970s and 1980s.

Acquisition

Now that the importance of keeping music ephemera in library collections has been addressed, it is time to address the other issues that librarians face when seeking to maintain a music ephemera collection in their library. Stone (1998, p. 104) notes that ‘collecting and preserving heritage materials across the broad spectrum of the performing arts on a national scale is a daunting task.’

Drew and Dewe (1992, p. 10) state that special collections in libraries are special because they merit different treatment from the rest of the library stock, including ephemera. Furthermore, they state that in regards to collecting ephemera for special collections, librarians must recognise that there is no point in simply acquiring ephemera in an ad hoc manner and leaving some of the more difficult questions of access and retrieval up to future generations to solve. There are issues around the selection of materials. Given the vast amount of ephemera that is produced daily, the selection of this material is a process that requires much thought. Once a clear idea is formed about selection and scope, the questions of management of the collection need to be considered (Drew & Dewe, 1992, p. 10).

Coover (1993) disagrees, suggesting that music ephemera acquisitions should occur haphazardly. First, it supposes a recognition of ephemera’s worth, an ability to look beyond its scruffy, disorderly nature to its future utility (Coover, 1993, p. 358). He also suggests further that in order to meet the needs of scholars, over-acquiring may be the safest path to follow. The acts of acquisition and preservation do not always signal aesthetic or intellectual approval but rather the wisdom to gather evidence at the opportune time (Coover, 1993, p. 358). However, even if that is the case, problems will then arise around the space and time dedicated to storing such items for what may only be a theoretical future use. It is evident that more research needs to be done, particularly around case studies that provide evidence of best practice for acquiring music ephemera for library collections.

Retention

Once music ephemera is acquired then it becomes a question of how and where to store the collection. In a 2003 study, Lawes and Webb provided guidance on this matter, stating that ‘librarians must decide what should be retained, how it should be stored, and how the material can best be accessed’. They go on to suggest the following as standard protocol for access to ephemera materials: ‘to improve access and enable conservation; standard storage, the ephemeral material must be kept as a separate entity and that records are essential in order to raise awareness of the collection and enable improved access for users.’ They came to this conclusion after visiting multiple institutions that employed this protocol and found that the collections were easier to manage and to access. Lawes and Webb also stated that conservation approved acid-free folders must be used for storage of printed as a standard practice, and suggest further research is needed into how to properly store physical object ephemera within libraries (Lawes & Webb, 2003, p. 38).

Similarly, Altermatt and Hilton (2012, p. 171) provided a case study exploring the staff’s approach in adapting archival methods to process methods for the backlog of printed ephemera. This case study reflected what it means to accommodate and nurture a ‘living’ collection. Scobie (2016) while focusing on the secondary music collection at the British Museum, found that much of the ephemeral material was difficult to deal with when staff and budgetary resources were low. During this time, Scobie (2016, p. 31) found that the solution most used was ‘putting it in a box’ and found that items were rarely catalogued. It is recommended regarding care of the ephemera collections that there is proper housing for materials (such as archive boxes), culling of duplicates to provide more room for the ephemera in the already overfull cabinets (McMullan & Cobley, 2017, p. 104). If this material is then kept, the question then becomes how researchers know what is there and exactly where is it kept?

Hulley and Rankin (2018 p. 139) present a case study of an intern at the McGill Library, who in 2015, created her own manual for in-house conservation techniques. The manual further outlined that items were stored in archival phase boxes and stored flat and in the open, in order to minimise additional strain on the fold from opening and closing the folio during future handling. A sheet of acid-free paper was also placed between the pieces of coloured sheet music to prevent colour transfer between the items. Finally, digital facsimiles of each work were created using a resolution capture of 600 dpi on a flatbed scanner to create TIFF images (Hulley & Rankin, 2018, p. 140).

Cataloguing and Classification

There is no consistent best practice when it comes to cataloguing and classification of music ephemera collections with many libraries employing their own in-house system of cataloguing. Furthermore, at the time of writing there are few papers that focus on the cataloguing and classification of music ephemera outright and much of which focuses on digitising and electronic ephemera, which is covered in the next section.

Dewe and Drew (1993, p. 123) found that the National Library of Australia, the State Library of Victoria and the State Library of NSW all collect printed ephemera, with each library dealing with ephemera collections in different ways. They also found that these libraries were sorting and housing ephemera according to either subject area or ephemera format. This is in direct contention with Cooke (2006, p. 34), who describes the process for cataloguing files such as art ephemera collected by libraries, as typically stored in artist files or institutional files.

Davis (2005) found that many libraries are still endeavouring to provide effective methods of classification, storage and access for performing arts ephemeral materials. Davis (2005) further states that one of the most significant concerns involving ephemera is finding ways to provide access to the collection and ways to classify the ephemera within the collection. Davis recommends that ephemera be catalogued in full level MARC cataloguing and be done at the time of receiving the collection to provide access and prevent backlogs. Summarising their ideas for cataloguing in the MARC format: the five fields that would be the most helpful and valuable to the user are: the <100> tag which is the creator field; the <200> tag which is the title of the collection field; the <520> note field; and the <600> and <700> added entry fields (Davis, 2005, p. 5). During the annual International Association of Music Librarians (IAML) Conference Ridgwell (2007) agreed with this practice for cataloguing but noted that there should be more of a focus on the practical problems of catalogue ephemera in MARC. In a later IAML conference meeting, Ridgewell (2011) introduced new software development work, funded by IAML, which had led to the creation of a new Institutions Server, which would make it possible to add records, describing programme collections wherever they are held, regardless of geographical location. These issues were brought up in further IAML conferences; Banks (2013) led a discussion around the issues relating to the documentation of performance ephemera and found that there were software problems with searches involving diacritics. Finally, in the 2014 IAML conference, Banks (2014) outlined the expanded list of digitisation and cataloguing projects related to performance ephemera.

Li, Gonzales, and Lampkin (2016, p. 18) outline that conducting an Ephemera Inventory articulates important steps and components suitable for each type of particular ephemera material. This inventory list includes the following three criteria:

• Assessing the ephemera – the description of each category is specifically explained, as the assessor needs to go through each item for collecting intended information.

• Introduction for particular ephemera – this criterion provides specific information on the different types of ephemeral materials; such as magazines, trade cards, posters, photographs and pamphlets.

• Special Situation – this topic stresses certain unexpected situations that the assessor may have.

The creation of a means of providing a single point of access to performance ephemera resources was discussed. In 2013, the staff at the Sousa Archives and centre for American Music (SACAM) at the University of Illinois launched the Urbana Champaign local music preservation initiative in order to collect and document materials related to the local music scene. Using original order, the staff at SACAM have provided access to research materials including ephemera to documentary series on the local scene. SACAM staff have the archivists and music enthusiasts will guide and justify the preservation of local music scenes (Grennan, Nichols, & Schwartz, 2018, p. 17).

Wallach further states that in order to preserve records of enduring value, archivists not only maintain archival collections but also describe and inventory them in accordance with accepted standards and practices. Wallach (2013, p. 16). Archival best practices indicate that we should always attempt to preserve the original, but in the case of digitised collections, what is the original? (Wallach, 2013, p. 18). This leads to the final theme: digitisation.

Digitisation

Since the internet and computer databases have become increasingly common search tools in the library, librarians have been put under more pressure to digitise their collections; including ephemera.

McKinstry’s (2016) study focuses on some of the larger digitised collections of printed paper collections by libraries, non-libraries and organisations, including 5 large scale collections of music ephemera. McKinstry (2016, p. 461) argues that digitising ephemera allows for better access for library patrons and beyond. Furthermore, Wilson and Dowell (2003, p. 3) argue for the use of digitisation for art ephemera collections, noting that ‘options for providing access to artists’ files range from simple web-based lists to collection level cataloguing or digitisation projects.’ Similarly, Simmons (2016) agrees that digitised ephemera collections ensure researchers don’t miss out on material buried in the artists’ files, especially if these collections are made freely available on the internet.

Simmons (2016, p. 74) does point out issues with the digitisation of ephemera, however, stating that digital surrogates of ephemera are often scattered across the internet by various entities and often without any context and these resources often float around on the internet like space junk, with poor metadata and tools to enable their discovery. This issue could be resolved through the librarian creating context and appropriate metadata to the collections so that researchers and library users don’t miss out on the added meaning that ephemera add to understanding the subject. Nurmikko-Fuller, Dix, Weigl, and Page (2016, p. 1) raise technical arguments that diverse datasets in the area of digital musicology expose complementary information describing works, composers, performers, and wider historical and cultural contexts. Furthermore, digitising collections may help with the issues around storage, physical space and access to ephemera collections (Scobie, 2016).

Finally, providing a digitised ephemera collection could have further benefits in regards to promotion of ephemera materials, Lawes and Webb (2003) state that extensive promotion of a physical ephemera collection is not always feasible. Ultimately, however, a collection requiring promotion could achieve this in several ways, such as creating and linking to the library website (Lawes & Webb, 2003, p. 38). Furthermore, this increased public awareness of ephemera materials could result in aid in collection development in the form of donations (Lawes & Webb, 2003).

Gaps in Research

There is generally very little academic research on music ephemera. Much of the literature focuses on providing definitions for music ephemera as well as providing a history of general arts and music ephemera collections in libraries. A clear-cut definition needs to be developed for what constitutes music ephemera. Current definitions are varied and while some get close to defining all the items that could be included in a collection, there is still confusion. Furthermore, it appears that there may be alternative terms used to encompass music ephemera, such as arts/performing arts ephemera as well as the cultural studies term ‘cultural memory’ (Bennett & Rogers, 2016, p. 39). A clear-cut definition of what constitutes ephemera should be applied across all disciplines, as libraries will be able to organise their collections more effectively. Currently, many librarians view music ephemera as an unnecessary and daunting add-on to music collections, instead of important contextual information that adds value (Stone, 1998, p. 100).

There was very little academic research found on music ephemera collection development. Therefore, more research needs to be done in order to understand the different acquisition/collection development methods used by libraries. Once this is done, a best practice methodology should be developed as it would provide a standardised approach to follow. This would be useful as currently, the few journal articles and case studies looking into the different practices of the acquisition of music ephemera materials conflict with each other. Creating a best practice methodology would clear up the confusion. More research is needed on all aspects of music ephemera collection retention. A standardised best practice methodology should be developed for music ephemera collections retention including; storage, organising, housing and access to music ephemera collections.

Further research needs to be done on the cataloguing and classification of music ephemera materials for collections. While libraries tend to follow their institutions own collection development policies, there is often a generally accepted best practice for collection material acquisition (Holder, 2012; Kelly, 2015). However, this is often not the case for ephemera materials.

More general research is needed on all aspects of the digitisation process for music ephemera materials by different libraries. While overall the literature reviewed has put forward a solid argument for the benefits of digitisation, potential issues have also arisen that may need addressing in future research projects. These issues include; that digitised copies of ephemera are often found floating around the internet from multiple sources with either little or no context or metadata attached to them (Simmons, 2016, p. 72). Finally, it has been found there is no established best practice for physical music ephemera collection post-digitisation.

Recommendations

Coover (1993, p. 358) summarises that when it comes to academic research around music ephemera, researchers interested in this field face an almost clean slate. Indeed, even in the 26 years since Coover examined music ephemera, little more has been done in regards to academic research or the development of best practice for the management of music ephemera collections. However, with this clean slate comes the exciting opportunity to develop further research studies in many areas of the field.

As mentioned above, there are many gaps in the research that require further study. In terms of a future research project in this area, this researcher would be interested in pursuing research into creating a clear definition of what music ephemera is and whether it can be differentiated from the cultural studies term ‘cultural memory’ (Bennett & Rogers, 2016, p. 39). Furthermore, it is recommended that further research is done around music ephemera collection development by libraries, in particular, as overall this was the least developed research area examined.

Conclusion

This literature review project collected and analysed previous scholarly literature on music ephemera in order to better understand the research gaps around the collection and management of music ephemera within library collections. Furthermore, the literature review was used to develop an understanding of the cultural importance of maintaining music ephemera within these collections. In many cases, these studies overlapped with each other’s themes or research. The review focused on the findings, potential benefits and concerns held by researchers in these studies.

This literature review summarised the need for music ephemera in library collections, along with the challenges involved in managing such collections. It briefly examined the history of music and performing arts ephemera collections, and aimed to investigate the best practice for the management of ephemera in library collections, including printed and e-ephemera. As there is very little literature on music ephemera, the review also explored the importance of performing arts and arts ephemera collections in libraries with a focus on collecting and managing collections along with the best practices of the digitisation of ephemera in the future. Finally, the gaps in the literature were assessed for future research.

Through examining the literature, it becomes apparent that much of the limited research available into music ephemera provided conflicting viewpoints around the best way to acquire music ephemera materials (Coover, 1993; Dewe & Drew, 1993). Furthermore, this was also the case in regard to the classification and cataloguing of music ephemera materials (Davis, 2005; Dewe & Drew, 1993). There were multiple standards relating to how to store and provide access to these materials. Digitisation could be the solution to storage issues but there were no recommendations about what to do with physical music ephemera post digitisation. Very little research has been done into current Australian or international libraries’ collection development practices for music ephemera, although it is known that government-run Australian libraries do maintain music ephemera collections (Dewe & Drew, 1993, p. 123).

The literature review found that there is little current available English language research into music ephemera and that further research in relation to creating a clear definition of music ephemera and the value of music ephemera to future research is warranted. It would further be useful to investigate what general works on ephemera such as Pearce (2018), Makepeace (1985), Stone (2005), and Rickards, Twyman, de Beaumont, and Tanner (2000) can add to the specific discussion on music ephemera. Further research would also be interesting, including case studies into music ephemera collection development and the acquisition of ephemera materials by Australian libraries, the maintenance and digitisation of music ephemera collections, as well as investigations into the cultural value of keeping music ephemera collections.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr Andrew Demasson for his guidance and helpful comments while undertaking this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research work was undertaken without any funding.

Notes on contributors

Jasmine Darlington-Rielly

Jasmine Darlington-Rielly is an early career librarian currently employed as a Casual Library Assistant at Monash University, a Library Learning Advisor at the Southern School of Natural Therapies (Laureate Education) and the Library Resources Officer at The Australian Guild of Music Education. She completed her Masters of Information Science (Library and Information Practice) at the Queensland University of Technology in 2018. Jasmine’s research interest is exploring the intersection of popular music and libraries and information seeking behaviour.