California State Library
Source: The New York Times
“Preserving Ephemera of Recall Campaign”
From the article, For the 135 candidates running to replace Gov. Gray Davis, $3,500 and 65 signatures got them a spot on the Oct. 7 recall ballot and a place in California history. With just over a week before the election, their campaign bumper stickers, buttons, Web sites and in one case thong underwear are becoming treasured artifacts. Researchers, archivists and historians holed up in museum offices and library basements across the state � people who normally think in terms of years not days � are scurrying to preserve the stuff of this election. Confronted with both an abbreviated timeline and an astonishing number of candidates, the task of collecting what they call the ephemera of the recall is proving daunting. Gary Kurutz, the curator of special collections at the California State Library, has taken to roaming the streets of Sacramento on his lunch breaks to scavenge for campaign memorabilia from rallies and events. Signs once taped to telephone polls or posters strewn on sidewalks are now enshrined in the library’s permanent collection.

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