Material in the Australian Ephemera Collection includes publications of less than five pages as well as pamphlets, leaflets, handbills, invitations, cards, menus, junk mail etc. Larger publications, such as theatre programs or retail trade catalogues, are also included. Information content, visual and design elements, period representation, portraiture are the key elements taken into consideration when the Library selects items of ephemera. There are two parts to our Ephemera Collection. All other Australian ephemera is housed together in four sequences - General Subjects, Programmes and Invitations, Trade Catalogues and Geographic.
Ephemera is housed in folders arranged by headings based on a thesaurus.
Copies of the thesaurus, and access to all Australian ephemera is available through the Petherick Reading Room . We aim to collect Federal election campaign materials as comprehensively as possible and during 1996 conducted a Collecting Campaign for the 1996 Federal Election . We are also undertaking a project to collect material which documents the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games , Paralympics and associated events.