The dictionary defines ephemera as “items designed to be useful or important for only a short time, especially pamphlets, notices, tickets, etc.”

As a matter of fact, without realizing it, my most treasured collection is a grouping of colorful menus that were collected by my grandmother when she was a passenger aboard the SS Ile de France ocean liner. The ship subsequently sank (my grandmother not aboard, thankfully!) which increased the value of the collection tremendously.

Old postcards.

During my weekly jaunt to Oak Street Mill, I came across a basket filled with old sheet music and Life Magazines. The sheet music was selling for $3.00 and the Life Magazine was $8.00. Each item held an interesting significance for me. The sheet music was titled “A Little Bit of Sunshine from Home.” The cover features a sailor from the USS Michigan on it. I hail from the Great Lake state! The other item, a Life Magazine from 1941 features the headline “Southern Sand Styles” with a beautiful Southern Bell stretched out on a floaty. Guess who vacations on the sands of Charleston and Hilton Head! What a find and what a steal!

Sheet music.

During MLK weekend I went back to Michigan for my niece’s Bat Mitzvah in Ann Arbor. After the shindig came to an end, before we made our way to the airport, we had a few hours to stroll our favorite part of town called, Kerrytown. The area is spearheaded by my favorite restaurant called “Zingermann’s” where we could grab a coffee and shop. Now as luck would have it, I wandered into a boutique called “Found.” (How ironic!) There, casually atop a display case was a vintage postcard set. This was not a reproduction, because I could see the real ink lettering and a postmark. In it was a pack of mint condition postcards from Charlotte, North Carolina! The scenes were remarkable. I could hardly recognize Tryon Street and the Court House. The pack is rather difficult to frame. So I am thinking of gifting it to The Levine Museum of The New South. For just a few bucks I found a little charm and a whole lot of history.

Art Around Town,” by Lisa Jewel, appears Fridays on DavidsonNews.net’s Guide page. Lisa is keeping a sort of “visual journal” of interesting objects she finds in the area. Some are items for sale at local galleries, others prized possessions in our homes. Have an object to share? Email Lisa, lskjewel@aol.com. See her previous columns in the Art Around Town category