![]() ![]() Additionally, each card would be easier to track. These new entries would allow us to add tons of new information to the database for each card, including descriptions of each card’s illustration, names of printers and captains, and the advertised destinations. If we wanted to fully integrate this collection of clipper cards into our database, and process them at “the item level”, this would mean assigning individual accession numbers to each card and then creating hundreds of new individual database entries. There were no descriptions, images or even a count of how many cards were meant to be represented by the single accession number.Īt this point we had to decide how we were going to move forward. Thankfully I did have a lead: there was an old sticky note inside the box that read “Probably SBS.” Checking through database entries for the thousands of artifacts the Museum acquired in 1991 from the Seamen’s Bank for Savings (SBS), I came across a database entry and accession number for a collection of clipper cards! Unfortunately, the entry did not have a lot of information. In short-finding a box in collections storage with no label, and no numbers, means there’s going to be some investigating to do! Each accession number gets its own database entry that has all of the object’s information in an easily searchable format. Usually, the outside of a storage box has a label with a description or collection title, along with an accession or archival number the tracking numbers assigned to collections objects to tie them to their documentation.Īccession numbers are especially helpful since they are the basis for our collection management database. So how did I stumble upon such a valuable collection? During an inventory I came across a standard archival box with no label describing what was inside. Their value for collectors of ephemera has even led to modern, counterfeit cards being put on the market.ģ0 minutes of inventory can lead to 100 hours of work Since so few clipper cards were initially printed and even fewer survived, they have been valued as rare ephemera since the mid-twentieth century. Clipper cards were eye-catching and colorful, but they were printed with cheap materials at a low cost since they were ultimately meant to be discarded. Third, and finally, clipper cards were usually thrown away once the ship they advertised departed since they no longer had a purpose. Second, unlike the brochures in my mailbox, they weren’t printed by the thousands-clipper cards were printed for, and couriered to, a small audience of local shipping agents and merchants. Clipper cards were printed from the early 1850s through the 1880s. ![]() First, they were printed for a relatively short period of time. There are a couple of reasons why clipper cards are so scarce. With that in mind, you might be wondering why anyone would be excited to find over 440 examples of 19th-century “junk mail.” What if I told you that, along with being beautiful examples of 19th-century design, clipper cards are incredibly rare? When I open my mailbox I can find half a dozen mailers for subscription boxes and local businesses. We still have printed advertising ephemera in our everyday lives. As you can see, clipper cards often feature colorful and bold designs, sometimes with illustrations inspired by the name of the ship represented. Along with providing basic information like the ship’s name, destination, captain, and pier, clipper cards were designed to be eye-catching in order to attract prospective passengers and merchants looking to ship cargo. They were printed as announcements that a particular ship, often a clipper ship, was about to sail. Silas Fish Clipper Card, March 1865 1991.070.0644Ĭlipper cards, sometimes called clipper ship sailing cards, are a unique type of advertising ephemera. ![]()
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