Photographs, postcards, and ephemera can record a significant moment in history, document a fad, and provide entry points to the past. Recognizing that works on paper could provide vital information for future historians, Historic New England founder William Sumner Appleton began to collect the material that forms our Library and Archives collection.

The eighth annual Prize for Collecting Works on Paper is awarded to a collector or dealer who has assembled or helped save a significant collection of historic material related to New England or to the nation as a whole that might otherwise have been lost or left unrecognized. The award recognizes collections of works on paper that reveal patterns of human thought and activity, ranging from books, manuscripts, photographs, prints, and drawings to all kinds of ephemera, such as trade cards, scrapbooks, or theater programs.

The prize of $500 and a membership to Historic New England will be awarded at an event in the fall.