Vintage feminist posters were shown by Sandie Spadaro, Bethel, Conn.
Review & Onsite Photos by Madeline Marriott
ALLENTOWN, PENN. — Collectors from far and wide made their bi-annual journey to the Allentown Fairgrounds Agri-Plex for the Allentown Paper Show, which saw vendors presenting the finest in paper collectibles, from rare books to vintage movie posters and more April 25-26.
At this spring show, the vast, two-room space was lined with the tables of 170 vendors representing more than 25 states — a postcard vendor even made his way from Israel, said event manager Sean Klutinoty.
Shoppers, too, made impressive efforts to be there. Klutinoty talked to visiting collectors from Nebraska, Texas and as far as Italy and the Netherlands among the 1,300 attendees. Each morning, dozens of early birds lined up outside the entrance waiting for the doors to open at 9 am.
“We’ve been consistently growing by about a hundred or more patrons at each show,” he said. “The enthusiasm has been amazing. We’ve had a waiting list for vendors for the last few shows, and there are people there from open to close on both days that tell us they need another day to see everything.”
Klutinoty has also seen a younger crowd taking an interest in collecting over the last few years — college students who show their school ID can enter the show for free — leading to both an increase in attendees and a shift in collecting habits.
Alan Green brought these midcentury posters, including one advertising his own jazz show at Rutgers. American Jazz Antique Toys, Ossining, N.Y.
“What I’m finding with some of the younger collectors is that they’re looking for artwork or things they can display,” he added. “They want things that will be conversation starters when people visit, rather than items they can add to a collection and put away.”
Many of the vendors brought specific items representing a mix of local to national interest to celebrate the United States semiquincentennial coming up this summer.
Renee Jones, owner of Rats Stash, based in nearby Quakertown, Penn., had a table dedicated to local history, including a copy of The Bethlehem Bulletin from the Fourth of July in 1967, with presidential profiles on the front page; vintage attire from Bethlehem High, which split into Liberty High School and Freedom High School in the 1960s; and nails made by Bethlehem Steel, one of the country’s largest steel producers for more than 100 years. “I’m a Liberty High graduate myself, so I love anything that has to do with its history,” Jones said. “I got this whole package at an estate sale, and I knew there would be people around here that would be interested.”
Several historical iterations of the American flag on view with Elaine Flint, The Old Pacrats, Newark, Del.
Elaine Flint, owner of The Old Pacrats, brought out a collection of American flags to mark the occasion. The rarest of the bunch was a 45-star flag, which debuted on July 4, 1896, after the statehood of Utah became official. This version remained in use through the Spanish-American War until 1908, when Oklahoma was admitted to the union.
Though US history was a popular focus, there were also plenty of items of international origin. At the booth manned by Celina Song, co-founder of Brooklyn-based Subject, shoppers were treated to detailed educational posters showing the inner workings of cars and other machinery from 1920s Japan.
Just down the aisle from Jones’ and Flints’ tables was the colorful display of Dael and Jan Cohen, the pair known as the Mid Century Sisters, which operates at The Zeppelin and The Unicorn in Wilmington, Del. The sisters specialize in vintage books, linens and midcentury home decor. The eye-catcher at their table was a series of vintage Wonderplex food advertisements from Kraft, including a lion, a tiger, a horse, an elephant and a clown to round out the circus theme. “I didn’t know much about these when I got them from someone’s attic, but it seems like they were in supermarkets in the 1970s and they’ve generated a lot of interest,” Dael Cohen said of the die-cut posters.
Just a portion of Tony Lee’s famous pinback collection. Titusville, N.J.
Tony Lee of Titusville, N.J., an Allentown Paper Show veteran of many years, had one of the largest collections of pinbacks at the show, ranging from 1969 calls for “Neil Armstrong for president” after the moon landing to those celebrating the 1980 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. “Local buttons, political buttons, sports buttons, you name it,” he said. “I have repeat buyers that come from all over just for that.”
At NCC Antique’s table, collectors gathered around what are known as scrapbook fans: velvety handheld fans adorned with scrap logos from places their owners visited. Looking at the plethora of additions to each fan, you can track the movements of young ladies of the early Twentieth Century, from the Phi Epsilon House in Brunswick, Maine, to the Grand Hotel in Florence, Italy, to the Harvard Medical School back in Cambridge, Mass. “There’s nothing on the fans that indicates their exact age, but based on the places and the fans themselves, they would be from either the earlier Twentieth Century or even the late Nineteenth Century,” exhibitor Nancy C. Craig said.
Making her way to the show from Dover, N.H., Craig has been attending the Allentown Paper Show for many years. “I see my role in the ephemera space as someone who tries to get new people into the business,” she said. “There are people here that have more inexpensive items and some that have gorgeous, expensive things, and I fall somewhere in the middle. I want people to know that as much as ephemera is historical, it’s also fun.”
A scrapbook fan from the early Twentieth Century in the booth of NCC Antiques, Dover, N.H.
Craig’s was not the only booth having fun with its items: just across the way was a table dedicated entirely to historical Halloween goods. Complete with everything from home decor and kitchenware to larger-than-life signage, the offerings were just a small taste of what’s on display at Castle Halloween, a non-profit social history museum in Altoona, Penn., with more than 35,000 Halloween artifacts curated by Pamela Apkarian-Russell.
There was also a wealth of paper goods in the most classic sense of the word: countless rare and vintage books, magazines, posters and postcards. Pick any decade of interest and there was likely a vendor there for you: literature of the labor movement and beyond from the Brewerytown Paperboy, walls filled with teen magazines from the 1960s with John C. Van Doren, magazines of queer and transgender history from the 1970s at House of Mirth Photos and sports trading cards from every sport and decade.
Van Doren, a dealer of movie memorabilia and other pop culture items, has been attending the Allentown Paper Show for two decades and has seen its transformation over time. “There used to be a lot more vendors here for vintage Hollywood memorabilia, like photographs and magazines, but that’s changing a bit now,” he said. “There aren’t as many Hollywood sellers, and it’s no longer as big a draw.” In its place are magazines, posters and books on other subjects like rock and roll. As such, Van Doren’s display was lined with Rolling Stones posters and vintage records from The Stooges and David Bowie.
In the future, Klutinoty is hoping to find space for a few additional vendors to keep adding fresh faces to the mix. “As some shows nearby close down, we’re getting more and more interested dealers,” he explained. “Each show, we usually have ten to 12 vendors that have never been there before, and I’m trying to find ways to sneak in another booth here and there to have even more.”
The next Allentown Paper Show will be October 3-4 at the Allentown Fairgrounds Agri-Plex. For information, www.allentownpapershow.com or 610-573-4969.
