Caille related:

Other:
One of the many photos of happy people with their motors from the "Evocative Old Photos" link
welcome

Ephemera is pronounced ee- FEM-er-a (click to hear)

E*phem"er*al\, n. Anything lasting but a day, or a brief time; an ephemeral plant,
insect, etc.

1. ephemeron - A short-lived thing.
2. ephemera - Printed matter of passing interest.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

If you are a fly tier you know about ephemeral which are insects whose lives span about a day. And those spring wildflowers that are here today and gone tomorrow are called spring ephemeral. (Ephemera is a plural of ephemeron but I haven't a clue how ephemeral comes about.)

Until about 25 years ago these were the only well known definitions. Dealers and collectors of odds and ends needed some word to describe (in a flattering way) the wide variety of paper bits the world produces...postcards, old letters, posters, catalogs and like that.

Following bits from http://www.ephemeranet.com

It was Maurice Rickards back in 1975 who founded the Ephemera Society
in London for the world of "paper" collectors needed some organization
to clarify these fabulous documents of history.

Maurice was responsible for today's definition of Ephemera we find in the dictionary.

The definition of Ephemera comes to us from the Greek "epi" (about) and "hemeris"(day).
The comtempory definition of ephemera is, "something short lived or transitory"especially all types of paper documents both printed or handwritten produced for a specific purpose and normally intended for disposal.

wav file from http://www.bartleby.com/61/37/E0173700.html

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.