Social Movements, Elections and Ephemera Collections

Because democracies constantly adapt to endure, they can seem messy. Political campaigns and elections create unique memorabilia that capture this essence of democracy in action. The democratic experiment since the collapse of the Soviet Union is no different. Elections in these countries still remain one of the most important sources of information for outside scholars and analysts to gauge both evolving voter sentiment and tectonic electoral shifts as ruling parties and opposition groups put out reams of campaign materials to influence voters.

East View’s Social Movements, Elections and Ephemera series brings to the researcher an unprecedented collection of fleeting election material from countries of the former Soviet Union, preserved for easy digital access. Representing a vast repository of primary source material from both presidential and parliamentary elections, this series embodies a unique “first stop” for policy analysts and observers of electoral politics in the countries of the FSU. Central to this series is the unique election ephemera including party programs, propaganda materials, special newspaper editions, handbills, sticks, and literature produced by all political parties or candidates.

Following a decades-long tradition of collecting rare and important ephemera materials for the academic and research communities across the globe, East View has put together a unique collection of ephemera materials documenting LGBTQ movements in several Eastern European countries.

With the resurgence of conservative political activism in Eastern Europe, which embraces and emphasizes traditionalist social, sexual, and gender norms, LGBTQ persons and LGBTQ activism are largely rejected and repudiated for undermining national values and social cohesion. Although there have been advances in legal protections accorded to LGBTQ persons, a far cry from the Cold War era, their presence and visibility in the public space remains broadly misunderstood, mischaracterized, and vigorously contested.

The present collection of ephemera, (brochures, clothing items, booklets, flyers, etc.) offers important insights into LGBTQ activism in Eastern Europe and the Balkans in the past decade. It includes over 200 pieces of valuable research materials collected by East View in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, and Slovenia.