John Wanamaker will tell you what he thinks of your request for a refund. | Image: Library Company of Philadelphia
Calling all collectors and hoarders: your time is now. Tomorrow, actually. With Remnants of Everyday Life: Historical Ephemera in the Workplace, Street, and Home, the Library Company of Philadelphia examines otherwise throwaway items from military recruiting posters and department store handouts to playbills and World’s Fair souvenirs dating from the late 18th century through the mid-20th.
On back order with Hasbro| Image: Library Company of Philadelphia
Curated by Visual Culture Program co-Directors Rachel D’Agostino and Erika Piola, Remnants of Everyday Life draws from the Library Company’s extensive collection of ephemera to visualize the evolution of graphic design, from the workplace, from the street, and from home. Tomorrow’s opening features a talk at 5:45PM on scrapbooking by Dr. Ellen Gruber Garvey, author of Writing with Scissors: American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance.
While the exhibition is not limited to Philadelphiana per se, plenty of Philly objects are on display. Founded here in 1731 by Silence Dogood, the Library Company has maintained an ephemera collection since 1785, when it pooled its resources to preserve Revolutionary War era pamphlets and broadsides. More recently—like, a century ago—this ‘Game of Philadelphia Buildings’ used flash cards to challenge its players to learn Philadelphia architecture.
Remnants of Everyday Life is on display at the Library Company, 1314 Locust Street, and runs through Friday, December 13, 2013. For more info, click HERE.
About the author
Bradley Maule is co-editor of Hidden City. He's a native of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, a four hour train ride from 30th Street Station on Amtrak's Pennsylvanian. He lived in Philadelphia from 2000–09, during which time he created and operated Philly Skyline. After a three and a half year vacation in Portland, Oregon, he's back, bearing brotherly love. Follow him on Instagram @mauleofamerica.
