Question

In her 2021 article “Throwaway History: Towards a Historiography of Ephemera,” scholar Anne Garner discusses John Johnson (1882–1956), a devoted collector of items intended to be discarded, including bus tickets and campaign pamphlets. Johnson recognized that scholarly institutions considered his expansive collection of ephemera to be worthless—indeed, it wasn’t until 1968, after Johnson’s death, that Oxford University’s Bodleian Library acquired the collection, having grasped the items’ potential value to historians and other researchers. Hence, the example of Johnson serves to ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Choose 1 answer:
A
represent the challenge of incorporating examples of ephemera into the collections of libraries and other scholarly institutions.
B
illustrate both the relatively low scholarly regard in which ephemera was once held and the later recognition of ephemera’s possible utility.
C
lend support to arguments by historians and other researchers who continue to assert that ephemera holds no value for scholars.
D
demonstrate the difficulties faced by contemporary historians in conducting research at the Bodleian Library without access to ephemera.

Answer 1

B

The example shows that ephemera were once held in low esteem by scholarly institutions but later were recognized as valuable for research.