WHAT IS A BROADSIDE?
"Broadsides" (or "broadsheets," in Britain and elsewhere) are pieces of paper printed on one side, for sale or distribution at fairs, markets, or by peddlers who roamed the countryside with them. Some, like baptismal and marriage certificates, were kept, while others were often discarded after use. They can all be subsumed under the useful rubric of "ephemera." From the Greek ephemeris, meaning "of a day," ephemeral items were things not meant to last.
