The Library of Ephemera
Or: Adding to the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive describes itself as “a digital library of… cultural artifacts in digital form” with a mission “to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.” That’s a big mission.
I use it a ton. I use the Wayback Machine to find web pages that are long gone from the internet. I listen to their huge collection of Old Time Radio programs for comfort when I’m sick. I borrow out-of-print books from the lending library when I need to do research. I use the video archive to find footage for videos I produce. I relive my childhood by playing old Apple II games in their online collection of emulated software, or in their Arcade. I read old magazines from the past like Starlog and the Saturday Evening Post.
At some point it dawned on me to wonder: Do I have anything I could contribute to the Archive?
Many years ago, in a move towards a paperless existence, I scanned in a lot of the ephemera that I had collected over the years. So I already had a lot of “cultural artifacts in digital form” that felt like they were right for the Archive. But were they? I’m not one to just upload copyrighted content to the internet, but the Archive acts in the interest of preservation, and serves a library-like role. I needed help figuring things out.
So I turned to Jason Scott, one of the archivists at the Internet Archive. I gave him several examples for a thumbs-up-or-down to calibrate me, including: a collection of MAD Magazine on CD-Rom; programs from San Diego Comic-Con in the 1980s; old magazines; photos of a 1970s pin collection; a 1986 tape recording of a Top 40 radio station; scans of my high school newspaper.
And he replied:
Everything but Mad. You can do it but it always gets taken down. We have 12 copies.
With that in mind, I began uploading.
Everything I contribute gets added to my member page. So far it’s a nerdy collection of random ephemera, and I have more stuff I still haven’t scanned. But here are some examples of what I’ve added to this cultural institution so far:
An MST3K Fan Club Newsletter
This is the Holiday 1996 issue of Satellite News, the newsletter of the Mystery Science Theater Fan Club, announcing that new episodes would be starting soon on the Sci-Fi channel. Don’t miss the “Great Stuff You Can Buy” section… which is actually most of the newsletter.
A Cheesy Magazine About Your Job Prospects
“American Careers” Fall 1991 issue. This was a magazine designed to help high school kids figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. I think this was given to us in gym class, along with a quiz that was meant to help us decide on a career. It told me I might like being a plumber. Incredibly, it turns out that American Careers is still a thing. And more incredibly, they’re still using that same logo.
A 1993 Article About Cyberpunk Culture
A 1993 article “Cyberpunk!” from Time magazine. A glossary provides definitions for: Hypertext, Cybernetics, Punk, Raves, Brain implants, Acid House, Industrial, Virtual Reality, Internet, Virtual Communities, Cyberspace, Computer Virus, The Well, Mondo 2000, Flame, William Gibson, Datacops, Neuromancer, Interzone, Negativland, Turing Police, Timothy Leary, Techno-Erotic Paganism, Temporary Autonomous Zones, Artificial Life, Cryonis, Ecstasy, Synaesthesia, Virtual Sex, Time Machines, Smart Drugs, Rants, Dystopia, Simstim Decks, and Microsofts.
A Comedy Show Program With Future Stars
The program from a 1992 production of the “Real Live Brady Bunch,” a staged production where comedians performed scripts from the Brady Bunch TV show. It starred Andy Richter (pre-Conan O’Brien), Jane Lynch, and Melanie Hutsell, among others. And it was produced by Jill Soloway and Faith Soloway. There is video of this show on YouTube.
A So-Bad-Its-Good Promo For a Great Movie
An 18 page promotional brochure for The Nightmare Before Christmas explaining what this upcoming movie was about. Here’s how the character Sally is described:
Major rag doll in the movie. Longs for Jack to notice her. Thinks Jack is so rad. Will follow him anywhere. And does. To the cemetery. Sees how tortured he is. Just like her. She’s edged about Jack doing Christmas. Thinks Jack will fully lose it. Wants to help Jack. Wants to be noticed by Jack. Will he ever see her?
Who wrote that awful text? Maybe this one’s not worth preserving. Too late! It’s uploaded.
The August 1983 Delta Inflight Magazine
The August 1983 issue of Sky, Delta’s inflight magazine. There’s a ton of great stuff in this one: robots that “make the jump from sci-fi to reality”; interviews with Pauline Kael, Gene Shalit, and Jeffrey Lyons about why people still watch movies like Return of the Jedi despite bad reviews; and many wonderful ads.
You might recognize that robot on the cover. It’s Sico, a robot made to treat children with autism, but who became a pop culture sensation with appearances in the movie Rocky IV and the soap opera Days of Our Lives.
I could do a whole newsletter about this one issue of Sky.
A Photocopied Indie Comic I Bought On A Street Corner
Issue 13 of Poush Comics. Some guy was selling it on a street corner in the East Village in 2001 for a dollar. Always a patron of the inexpensive arts, I bought a copy. But I might be confusing him with someone who was selling a photocopied book of their poetry outside The Strand for a dollar, which I also bought. I should find that and add it to the Archive.
Lots of Stuff from Comic-Con 1988
The 1998 San Diego Comic-Con events guide. It’s a complete listing of everything that was happening at Comic-Con that year, including a screening of the new X-Men cartoon pilot that never went to series (they showed it on a TV set that they rolled out like your high school a.v. club — a far cry from the big events Comic-Con is known for today), and a “George R. R. Martin Spotlight” from before Game of Thrones was a thing.
I also uploaded other materials from the 1988 Comic-Con, and I have a bunch of 1989 Comic-Con ephemera waiting to be scanned.
Top 40 Radio DJs from 1986
25 minutes of DJs, commercials, station breaks, a clip of Dr. Demento, and music from Phoenix radio station KZZP 104.7 FM in 1986 (“The number one hit music station” as anyone from Phoenix knows).
And More
That’s not everything I’ve uploaded so far, so if you really want to see an issue of my high school newspaper, that’s there, too. And I still have more to add. I like thinking that someone might find this useful for their own research at some point.
The Archive of the Archive
Before there was a Wayback Machine, the Internet Archive’s database of old websites was available for research and academic purposes through a Unix shell. There was a web page explaining how to apply for access. That page isn’t around anymore, but it has been archived and is accessible through the Wayback Machine:
That screenshot is from 2000. But in 2001, the Wayback Machine web interface was added, and the archive became publicly and more easily accessible.
I couldn’t remember what the Wayback Machine looked like back in 2001. So I decided to look it up in the Wayback Machine. Would it have an archive of itself?
Sure enough, here it is from November, 2001, the first Wayback Machine snapshot that includes the Wayback Machine:
And one day, this very newsletter you’re reading will be added to the Archive.
That’s it for this week. If you’re a new reader, be sure to check out my newsletter archive. Everything there was written just for you.
See you next week!
David