Collecting Disneyphemera

What is Disneyphemera? Well, it is a term I coined (no pun intended), for my Disney collection. In a nutshell, Disney + ephemera = Disneyphemera. Ta Da! I was surprised to learn a few years ago that a lot of people didn't know what ephemera was. Personally, I have always thought of it basically as paper items that were usually discarded after a short time. Dictionary.com defines ephemera as "anything short-lived or ephemeral, items designed to be useful or important for only a short time, esp. pamphlets, notices, tickets, etc.". So, I collect Disney items that a lot of people end up throwing away. Great! I collect Disney trash.

Anyway, ephemera is actually a much broader field than just those examples given in that definition. Other paper items included are trading cards, pictures, letters, napkins, matchcovers, maps, cups, plates, books, comic books, newspapers, postcards, magazines, candy wrappers, cereal boxes, and pretty much anything made of paper. By definition, if something is made of paper, it isn't intended to last very long. Ok, maybe that isn't a true definition of paper, but it is my definition.

Now, paper items aren't the only items that are ephemeral. Items made out of plastic, metal, cloth, glass, and other materials can all be lumped into ephemera as well. Some examples include pens, pencils, tokens, coins (remember the 'no pun intended' comment), plastic cups, buttons, caps, t-shirts, and drinking glasses. Obviously, ephemera collecting has a lot of crossover collectibility with other collectors. Comic books, stamps, and baseball cards are the ones that come immediately to mind and are probably the most common and largest collector groups.

For my personal Disneyphemera collection, I mainly focus on items from Walt Disney World. That doesn't mean I pass up on Disneyland items, Disney movie related items, or other general Disneyphemera items I come across. Of course I add them to my collection, or at least save to trade or sell so I can add pieces to my WDW collection. I will be displaying pieces of my collection in my blog, the first of which I posted the other day about my acceptance letter to the WDW College Program.

There are several good Disney blogs and web sites out there that focus on different Disneyphemera. The following are a few of my favorite:

Disneyana World
my Disney collection Blog
Presscoins.com The Unofficial Walt Disney World Pressed Coin Guide
Theme Park Paper - A History of the Disney Theme Parks
Vintage Disneyland Goodies
Vintage Disneyland Tickets
Walt Disney World A History in Postcards

Also, there is a great ephemera blog that I read daily called ephemera exploring the world of old paper.

If you aren't familiar with these, I hope you check them out.