Flickr is an incredible source for scans of ephemera from all eras. There is so much to find on there. One of my dreams is to somehow organize and catalog all of this; until then, all I can give you is a somewhat ordered list of things I’ve found. Remember that this only represents a sliver of a portion of what’s available on the internet.
- The Modern Ephemera Society – printed material from the 1950s to the present
- Ephemera – vintage photos, old certificates, foriegn money, train tickets, found paper documents, and other interesting printed materials
- Jassy-50’s Postcard Collection – Hundreds of postcards from over fifty years of collecting
- Striderv’s Collection – Advertisements, postcards, and sheet music
- Pantufla’s printed ephemera – Posters, including Civil War, Soviet, and WPA; 1969 Catechism; 19th century shipping cards; book, magazine, and album covers; typography, and so much more
- Steveartist’s postcards
- Mando Maniac – movie posters and portraits, stamps, postcards, cigarette cards, advertising, art, book covers and illustrations, and magazine covers
- Takeabreak’s collections – illustrations and photos, including stamps, money, ads, postcards, sheet music and more
- Cinema Postcards
- Kocojim’s collection – Vintage advertising and illustration: A lot of pinup and men’s magazine covers; Graphics and logos; objects and stuff, such as matchbook covers, appliances, etc.;
- 1940s Magazine Covers
- Sara1973’s Vintage – Magazine covers, ads, travel and movie posters
- Vintage Magazines
- Jasperdo’s scanned stuff – road maps, travel souvenirs, MAD Magazine covers and interiors, and more
- Decades – ads and packaging from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s
- One for the Ladies – Housewife and hostess related ephemera
- Mario Groleau’s Collections – photo magazines, advertisements, and photographic nostaligia (camera manuals, found photographs, etc)
- Posters – World War II, travel, and ads (No longer available)
- Vintage Advertisements – From the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s
- Gatochy – Over 10,000 images here. Advertising, movies, art, fashion, books, and magazines. Hours of exploration
- Neato Coolville – Another large archive (nearly 4,000 images) with a slightly kid focus. Cereal boxes, comic book ads, and many other categories fill this collection
- Jazz-Age in Print – ephemera from the 1920s and 30s
- Vintage Illustrations – mostly children’s book illustrations from the early 20th century
- 1950s to 1970s advertising
- Star1950’s collection – A wildly divergent mix of ephemera from all time periods
- TrialsandErrors’ Collection – Performing Art posters, Ziegfeld follies girls, ads, posters, postcards, and photography
- Vintage Restaurant Postcards and Ephemera
- Maraid’s collections – though there are some personal photographs mixed in, I linked to all the categories so you won’t miss any of this esoteric collection, which includes British wrestling posters, Japanese matchbox labels, and architecture paperback covers among other things
- Wishbook’s collection – Christmas catalogs, ads, Garbage Pail stickers, and Disney stuff
- Illustrations – Mainly advertisements, all separated by subject
- American Ephemera
- Art of the Luggage Label
- Al Q’s Collections – A lot of radio and music related ads, illustrations, and graphics. Also some postcards, valentines, and magazines
Please point to your favorites as well. I am aware that there is tons of ephemera collections outside of Flickr as well; I’ll be pointing to some of them in the near future.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78469770@N00/collections/72157600010296422/