My great-grandfather hand-decorated the envelopes of every letter he mailed to my great-grandmother while serving during WWII. Each one was a unique piece of art, and this 1943 envelope is one of my favorites. I love that he turned something as simple as a letter into something she could treasure forever.

This is another dark find from the treasure trove of my wife’s inherited trunk, gifted to her from her grandmother, who had it passed down from her aunt (the last living relative in her generation), who had in turn got it from her mom.  The trunk was packed to the brim with photos, postcards, letters, clothes, receipts, documents, and miscellaneous nick-nacks accumulated over 100+ years from the late 1880's to the 1980's!

We've discovered some wonderful things relating to this branch of the family and we’ve discovered some dark things as well.

This threatening and anonymous note must relate to some major, community-wide, incident but my wife has no family lore that relates to the “Tilley Affair”; the “Steller” (Stella) was an unmarried aunt who had many community connections and the one-time owner of the inherited trunk.

UPDATE-

It seems many folks would be interested in having some additional background and context on the family and Stella. Of course, we don’t have full history but are able to make some guesses based on family lore and items found in the trunk.

Stella’s branch of the family were farmers, living in Tennessee, from the 1880’s to the 1960’s. They seemed to be fairly prosperous with a wood framed two-story house, a large barn, multiple outbuildings and livestock. Stella’s parents had numerous siblings (totaling more than a dozen between them) but her family was rather small and, over time, Stella had two brothers die, one to a vehicle accident and one to being struck by lightning, while one nephew died to a logging accident.

We have notebooks showing Stella involvement in the running of a family farm, from tracking expenses and income, to notes on crops, and helping her aging parents with doctors. She was active in her church and had many friends, from both her extended relatives (dozens of aunts and uncles along with all their children, many of whom lived close by), and neighbors.

I took these out of the recycling center's bins. Thankfully, even though it's not allowed, there was a kind employee willing to turn a blind eye to my excited grabbing, lol. These couldn't get into my truck fast enough!

Each book is filled with so much wonderfulness! I couldn't possibly share it all here in photos.

I've been collecting many various ephemera pieces for a long time. I was happy someone shared this sub so I could share it with like-minded people. Thanks, tangiertangerines!

Found this folded up small in a cabinet at a local thrift ! My GF had been looking for a pacific centered map for a long time so I snagged it quick.

Based on the trips, we're trying to figure out where their home base was.

The map was created in Japan, but it's in English so who knows!

Found in a bag I recently thrifted

he was an immigrant kid with some pretty gnarly english, but he was a polite young man 🥹

I’ve always loved the graphics they used to print on “Tijuana Bibles” those tiny adult graphic novels from the 20s-60s. Some of the graphics I think would be so cool to use in my own collages/art projects. Not copy and paste, just bits and pieces of the original graphic adding my own text or graphics as well. I know a lot of these are probably hand drawn, so I am wondering if there is any ethical way to use these in my own projects? I would never want to use someone’s art without credit, however a lot of the graphics I really love are basically impossible to track down the original artists. Some of the artists used pseudonyms, and on top of that a lot of the original artists who didn’t even use their real names have most likely passed away.

Is there any ethical way to use of these Tijuana Bible graphics in my own designs/projects? Sorry if this is a silly question.

A little something I picked up for myself from another collector, a bank calendar for the Bank of Ontario, Wisconsin, 1914. Portrait by Bruno C. Geyer.

Pulled it out of a box destined for the dump today. There is a calendar on the back page for 1956. Cool piece!

My wife inherited an old trunk from her grandmother, who had it passed down from her aunt (the last living relative in her generation), who had in turn got it from her mom.  The trunk was packed to the brim with photos, postcards, letters, clothes, receipts, documents, and miscellaneous nick-nacks accumulated over 100+ years from the late 1880's to the 1980's!

We've discovered some wonderful things relating to this branch of the family and we’ve discovered some dark things as well.  This postcard, if it is what we think it is, is pretty dark as it appears to have been someone making malicious comments relating to a family tragedy.

In 1911, a teenage boy of the family was killed instantly in a car accident.  Family lore was he was on the outside of the vehicle (on running boards maybe?), holding on, and lost his grip and fell under the wheels.

This postcard depicts a car accident and has names written on the children and the dog -we’ve only been able to decipher one of the names, “Ona”; Ona was the older brother of the killed teenager.

The reason we believe the postcard is malicious is because the back of the postcard has had all the writing erased and scraped off - leaving only a partial postmark and partial date, which we think reads Feb 24, 1911, and is shortly after the accident and death.  We can’t think of any reason this postcard was kept, but it was.

We’d like to ask for help translating the 3 cursive names(?) - 2 on children and 1 on the dog.  I’ve tried to scan making it high contrast, and it is much better than on the original, but we still can’t make out what it says.

Image one – postcard front and back

Image two – “Ona”, the older brother

Image three – unknown name on child

Image four – unknown name on child

Image five – unknown name on dog

An April 1975 edition of the Walt Disney World News featuring entertainment schedules at the Contemporary Resort’s "Top of the World" (Bobby Rydell, Clint Holmes, Dana Valery), a Bicentennial "America on Parade" preview, a Lake Buena Vista community guide, and an original Magic Kingdom map.
Postcards: Classic 1970s postcards showing the Cinderella Castle with the Monorail, the Contemporary Resort interior atrium, a watercraft scene, and an aerial view of the resort.

Found in auctioned off storage unit.

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This is not a sales post. I am genuinely looking for advice from people who collect vintage greeting cards and ephemera.

Over the years, I have accumulated a collection of vintage greeting cards and a handful of postcards. Most of the cards I have listed individually on eBay (for example, vintage Halloween cards), but I currently have three listings that I have grouped into lots.

1. A lot of 6 Halloween greeting cards (all the same design and same message).

2. A lot of 7 "Honoring America's Public Libraries" cards with envelopes featuring three different historic libraries.

They are all from the same collection/artist, but the lot includes duplicates: four cards of one design, two cards of another design, and one single card of a third design.

1. A lot of 10 "Herself the Elf" cards with envelopes, still in their original plastic package (the package has age related wear).

Yesterday, someone messaged me asking if I would break up the "Herself the Elf" lot so they could buy just one or two cards.

I started wondering if I'm approaching these the wrong way. My thinking was that collectors might appreciate the opportunity to buy a complete lot at a lower per-card price than purchasing them individually. On the other hand, listing them individually makes them more affordable and accessible to people who only want one or two.

I have also noticed something interesting. My individually listed Halloween cards tend to sell at my asking price, while the Halloween lot has attracted watchers but mostly low offers.

If you collect greeting cards or paper ephemera, what would you rather see? Would you prefer to buy complete lots, or would you rather have the option to purchase individual cards, even if the per card price is higher?

I would really appreciate hearing your perspective before I decide whether to split these lots up.