This is a vintage 1953 admission ticket for a "Blind Artists' Concert," a community fundraising event sponsored by the Tom's River Kiwanis Club and held at the Tom's River School Auditorium in Ocean County, New Jersey, on Monday evening, August 31, 1953. The ticket, priced at $1.50 to admit two people with tax included, exemplifies the mid-century service club's role in organizing local philanthropy and cultural programming. The event's specific beneficiary—blind artists—offers a poignant glimpse into post-war charitable efforts and the support structures for differently-abled creatives during this era. The typography is straightforward, with the event name rendered in a simple decorative script, reflecting the functional, no-frills aesthetic typical of locally printed ephemera for one-time community gatherings. The inclusion of "Tax Included" in the pricing is a notable period detail regarding retail and admission practices.
The ticket is a single rectangular card, printed on one side with a blank verso, and survives in good, legible condition with expected signs of aging including light paper toning and minor foxing. As a piece of New Jerseyana and Kiwanis Club memorabilia, it documents a specific moment in the civic life of Toms River, a community in coastal Ocean County. This artifact of community ephemera serves as a tangible record of grassroots fundraising, local auditorium use, and the social customs of the early 1950s, where service organizations like Kiwanis were central to orchestrating events that blended entertainment with charitable purpose. The ticket's value lies in its specificity, capturing the date, location, sponsor, and cause of a singular evening that supported artists within the blind community.