Photoessay #2808 - Ephemera

The next project is about Maier Zunder's Scrapbook, which he kept himself beginning with obituaries of his wife Regina in 1874 until shortly before his death in 1901.  He included newspaper clippings and ephemera in this scrapbook, most identified by source and date in his own handwriting.  No photographs.

I'm working through what seems to be the best overall book about American scrapbooks "The Scrapbook in American Life".  Now about ephemera, how it's hard to identify the provenance or source.

Never thought of that.

The 25th Anniversary of the Horeb Lodge #25 B'nai Brith was huge for Maier.  He had founded this lodge himself when he was 27 and, at the time, it was the dominant Jewish institution in New Haven.  The membership had been planning for this bash for a long time.  In fact, each member had been assessed $1/year for several years to build up a war chest to have a huge gala event.

The banquet and ball held in the opera house held main billing.  But they also planned an afternoon program of oration and music.  Maier Zunder gave the Opening Address.  I'm not sure if these speeches were made in English or German.  The local newspapers covered these speeches.  Apparently the local journalists thought nothing of reporting speeches in German.  I also enjoyed Adolph Asher's oration.

Wonder what that that music was like, never heard of those pieces.

But I never thought about, until now, the provenance of the many pieces of ephemera that Maier pasted into his scrapbooks.  Who designed them and printed them?  How many copies?  Who received them?

I love having these windwows, beclouded as they may be.

I'm reading a new author I discovered last week.  Nancy K. Miller.  Feminist, memoirist, genealogist.  I read "Things They Saved" (2011) and now "Bequest and Betrayal" (1996).

In our family, we draw names.  Everybody gives one gift, receives one gift.  My young adult children, enjoy it.  All significant others now included (Matt, Jessica,Megan).  Names picked at Thanksgiving.  Kind of secret but not really.  But this year, four of the nine were gathered in Alabama.  So I had those here draw their names.  Then, as Dennis said "The fix is on!" I assigned the others.  I gave the significant others, one of our sibs and vice versa.  Last evening, I started to send out the assignments.  Did I have current email addresses?  How about Facebook?  I had just started when Ilana called, wanting to know the assignments.  So I gave them all of them their names separately on the phone.  Everybody seemed satisfied and amused.