Preserving the Impermanent: Ephemera in Library and Archival Collections

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

This roundtable examines the role of ephemera in preserving and translating memory across library and archival collections. A.M. LaVey (New York Public Library) explores dance programs as primary source documents, considering their bibliographic and research value in dance studies. Julie Chervinsky (Blavatnik Archive) discusses how digital access transforms ephemera into storytelling, highlighting case studies from a collection of more than 140,000 items. Laikin Dantchenko (Indiana University) analyzes how Fёdor Lavrov’s punk ephemera reconstructs song histories, resists historical erasure and raises ethical concerns in archival description. Katya Rogatchevskaia (British Library) examines ephemeral materials in Belarusian and Ukrainian collections, considering their role in contested memory. Alla Roylance (New York University) explores the use of Soviet fashion magazines in primary source pedagogy, demonstrating how these once-ubiquitous publications serve as historical artifacts that engage students across disciplines. Together, these presentations underscore the impermanence and power of ephemera in shaping scholarly and public understandings of history.

Sub Unit

• Library/Information Sciences

Chair

• A. M. LaVey, New York Public Library

Roundtable Speakers

• Julie Reines Chervinsky, Blavatnik Archive

• Laikin Dantchenko, Indiana U Bloomington

• Ekaterina Rogatchevskaia, British Library (UK)

• Alla Roylance, New York U