This week the Bodleian Library’s John Johnson Collection of printed ephemera tweeted the following question on behalf of their visiting scholar Jill Shefrin.
Visiting scholar Jill Shefrin is writing a major bibliography of school pieces aka writing blanks. Pls tell us if you know of any. #ephemera pic.twitter.com/fKkjHxJxcL — John Johnson Coll (@jjcollephemera) January 24, 2017
Shefrin is currently undertaking a major research project on writing blanks, objects which are are ephemeral, yet important pieces of visual and material culture. The post received several responses, unearthing some truly beautiful examples of the genre:
@jjcollephemera Writing Sheet, Elijah Fed by Ravens pic.twitter.com/ROFidOV6YJ — Stephen Barker (@Stephen25367746) January 24, 2017
@jjcollephemera “Grand National Jubilee” 1814 by Langley & Belch blank filled in Xmas 1814 by Henry Hollinshed (London 1800-Sydney NSW 1866) pic.twitter.com/apmBDF6Ut5 — Sandy Rich (@MrSandyRich) January 26, 2017
This got me thinking about my own research into the ephemeral, specifically my postdoctoral project on collage and assemblage before the twentieth century. Aside from the research I’ve completed as part of the project’s pilot study (which I discuss here and here), so far I’ve mostly be concerned with finding out what collaged objects survive in what collections. This has meant many a rewarding hour trawling museum and library catalogues, and has led to some really exciting discoveries that I’m anxious to research further over the next few years.
It’s because of this richness—the huge variety of collaged objects preserved in museum collections today—that I’m convinced that many many more examples must be out there, both in museum and private collections. As the project progresses, I fully intend to follow the John Johnson Collection’s example and use Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media to try and unearth as many examples of collage from colleagues, research institutions, and the public more broadly.
As my research on collage is inherently concerned with ideas of intimacy and identity, I’m particularly keen to learn about personal, private objects – objects that might have passed down through several generations, rich with inherited meaning, yet whose private (i.e. non-institutional) nature might mean that these stories are never heard. Accordingly, I’m becoming increasingly interested in the prospect of creating a kind of crowdsourced ‘database’ of collaged objects, where individuals can submit objects, images, stories, and reflections. The contours of such a project will obviously need further delineation, but I feel like it could make a fascinating counterpart to the more ‘academic’ aspects of this project. As ever, I’ll be posting more about my various research projects as they develop, and stay tuned for a post on ‘the book proposal’ coming asap.
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