This diverse, sprawling personal collection built by a former director of the Ephemera Society of America, can be glimpsed Eric Caren’s website. The Archive contains original and historic newspapers, periodicals, manuscripts and photographs.
Currently, March 2014, the site shows 17 panels of ephemera. The panels are not to me eye thematic but rather show an extraordinarily eclectic range of material. For example, group 56 (third row, on the right edge) shows: a Woodstock concert lobby card; a Civil War patriotic cover and prison newspaper; a ‘doctors smoke Camels’ ad; and a photo of slaves.
Caren began collecting baseball cards, stamps, coins and more when he was 5 years old. At age 11, he discovered some newspapers in an abandoned house. He directed a rare newspaper gallery in London. In 1983, he founded The Caren Archive and has been a full-time dealer in historical collectibles ever since.
The site did not seem to be easy to navigate (I had to keep going back to the site as I could not move from a close look at a screen or list back to the home page) and the visitor has restricted access without contacting Mr Caren by email.
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