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One dictionary defines ephemera as "transitory material, often of paper and of no real value." However, as we all know, such material is the stuff of everyday life and tell us much of how a person, group or organisation was perceived. We also know that it is hard to find and so today, I have a selection of twenty items to demonstrate what can be found. Some of it, I admit, would have been of value at the time it was produced. By this I mean not only of financial value but of items perhaps valued by their owners such as certificates.
Let us begin: Such was the impact of the Salvation Army in the 1880s that it was topical and as such, Raphael Tuck and Sons produced a series of press out reliefs for use in scrap books. All were joined to each other and the main series is dated 1886. Other reliefs from the Company also show a Salvation Army mobile preaching wagon. I have also seen reliefs (or scraps as they are called) featuring three cats in Salvation Army uniform.
Just how topical the Salvation Army was can be seen in magazines and street literature of the Victorian period. One piece of street literature which has been dated to late 1879 is called "Go and join the Salvation Army" and is sung to a well known tune (see next page). Satirical magazines picked up the theme. One such produced a "Tennyson" style poem in 1893 based on General Booth's idea for obtaining £200 per week through special collections from a "Light Brigade". The poem concludes:
When shall the "Army" fade? 0, the wild pranks they play'd! All the world wonder'd Honour the pence they paid! Honour the Light Brigade, And their two hundred!
There a literally dozens of examples of poems. One of the most famous of which comes from Punch, August 1912, commemorating the death of William Booth.
In other magazines and newspapers you will find pictures such as those on display (see "Salvation Army Prints." journal Vol. 2 and 3). My favourite is the picture of the impoverished ladies lying in coffin-like wooden structures. It has always been said that the key advantage of this is that if they die at night, you could simply slip a lid over the top and bury them!
Becoming a well known figure, William Booth was the target of autograph hunters. One example was purchased from a dealer who broke up a large Victorian autograph book. It is a good example because it is on the General's stationery and has a picture of the General mounted above it.
Occasionally lesson cards turn up in ephemera and even more rarely, lesson card albums. Recently I heard of one such album complete with all 52 cards. The complete book itself is perhaps not ephemera but as it dates from the 1890s, is interesting to see.
Looking through some old cards a few years ago I came across a plain blue card with just the Army's crest on it. However, opening it up, it was a printed 1895 "Christmas Blessing" from the Field Commissioner, Evangeline Booth. It contained a picture of her and the Army's motto for 1896 - "Stand by the Flag".
When searching for ephemera, always look at the small as well as large items. I have brought along one of my favourite pieces which is an 1888 envelope printed "On Salvation Army Service". It has a 21/2d stamp and a sideways perfin S. On the envelope is printed "York and Sheffield Division" (York Section), 36 Melbourne Street,
Fishergate, York". However, it is overprinted "Book Department, 56 Southwark St, S.E."
The next item is a letter dated 3 November 1916 and sent from Bramwell Booth to the Lord Mayor of London. It is a covering letter for a £500 cheque to the Kitchener Memorial Fund. It is rather apologetic in tone explaining that the cheque is not larger because there have been so many "Local Appeals".
Moving on from letters to postcards, do look closely at SA postcards, even if you have an example already in your collection. Two examples demonstrate what I mean with regard to interesting cachets (and the messages are sometimes worth reading) on the reverse. The first is a silk card on which is stamped on the reverse "The Salvation Army No 19 AVC Hospital, BEF France". The second is a card showing "Field-Major and Mrs Lawton and Bert" but on the back, along with a hand written Christmas greeting, is the "SA Hostel, Edinburgh" cachet.
One small piece of ephemera found some years ago is an admission ticket to the Tower, Aberdeen. Numbered 281,,1, priced at 2d and dated August 7 1912, it absolves the Army from any accident to the ticket holder in ascending or descending the Tower.
Another item, this time from 1912, is an American invitation to a Memorial Service for the life of General William Booth. It
eulogizes on the General and invites the holder to this "impressive service".
In searching for Army related ephemera, never dismiss boxes of photographs. In a 20p box I found a picture of William Booth and Commissioner
Lawley, on a ship in a harbour with an Army band playing. judging by the uniform style of the Band I would say this was taken on the General's visit to Australia in 1905.
You never know when an item of SA material will show up. Some months ago I was given an AA membership card for 1919-1920. It was signed by the member General Bramwell Booth! Interestingly he merely records his address as "London. EC4".
Many of us will have SA certificates in our collections and they certainly make an interesting and colourful display. I have brought one example, this being a Certificate of Merit from the Young People's War, the person passing the 1931 examination upon the SA Directory.
Especially colourful is a pictorial stamp of Famous People, number 15, produced in 1938 by G.
Melikov. There are also sepia prints issued with cigarettes!
Finally legal documents can provide interesting examples of ephemera. I have three favourite pieces. The first is from the SA Assurance Society Ltd and is a "Charge by way of Legal Mortgage of Freehold Property". It has the Salvation Army seal on the reverse. The second is a lease document from 1892 for a London property, signed by William Booth. Finally, another lease document, this time for the 99 year lease for General Booth's house in Hadley Wood. This document contains a plan of the land and is again signed by General Booth.
I hope that this gives you a flavour of what you can find. Ephemera turns up in the most unexpected of places and is not necessarily expensive. Very often the major pre-requisites are time and patience. Good hunting.
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