Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Collecting and Cataloging


Basically a cataloger is a collector. If the cataloger is employed as a cataloger, the collecting is done for him. If the cataloger is a hobbyist, he has a subject of interest and he collects all things related to it. For example, if the subject is music, he will not only collect (and catalog) various genres of music, but will likely collect books about music, concert programs, and even articles from magazines about music.

There are collector-catalogers for practically any subject one can conjure up. Museums (probably the biggest of the collector-catalogers, right after libraries) are often funded by universities or cities. If one doesn’t personally like to collect, most people still like to go look at the collections of others (in museums, usually.)

Collecting and cataloging seems to be an analytical exercise. People seem to have an urge to collect and classify as many examples within their field of interest as they can, sometimes doing it over their entire lifetime. Those who collect but don’t catalog may have large collections, but they are just stored in boxes in the attic - or all over their house. An unordered collection is not very useful to the collector or anyone else.

I have often thought about the psychology of collecting, but haven’t come up with an explantion for it that is very satisfying. I haven’t found anyone else who has either. Perhaps a need to preserve and document. If so, that still doesn’t tell us why there is a need felt inside a collector to do that.

If anyone has a theory, I would love you to talk about it.

18 comments:

  1. I don't know that I agree with you that a hobbyist collector will collect everything around a particular subject. Some are extremely selective. Some are open-ended collectors and will collect everything with a shamrock on it for instance, while others will collect every example of something - a picture of the capitol of every state, say.

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    1. What do you collect? You are visual like me. Photographs tell the story.

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  2. Yes. Picture postcards of every state capitol. That would be annoying. Since they all seem to look alike. Except the shamrock ones. However, I have never met a shamrock collector who would pass up a nicely written short article about shamrocks, or a brochure on shamrock rot.

    Eventually, I will strike upon something you are interested in. Hang in there.

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  3. I will have to think about this one. I've been an avid collector in my day ..... but my obsessions always tended to be short-lived. After a year or two, I would move on to something else. Now that most of my collections are in boxes in my garage, I'm wondering where exactly am I channeling all that 'collecting energy' ??? Hmmmmm .......

    xxx

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    1. So collecting is an obsession?

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    2. Most definitely an obsession for me. Or should I play it down and just label it as one of my passions?

      Truly, I am giving this some thought. Might even turn it into a blog post.

      Now that the objects of my obsessions are packed tightly away (and have been for over 2 years) I find I don't have that need to collect 'stuff' ..... because in the end it really is 'stuff'. I do have some holdouts in the stuff department - favored books, pieces of pottery, a painting or two and my grand / great-grand mothers' quilts.

      Over spring break my eldest son offered to take a few boxes in the garage to Goodwill. He made it sound painless - Sort of 'You know mom, when I come over to see you I can take a few boxes with me each time I leave.'

      I panicked. I couldn't let him take boxes without my knowing what was inside of each one. In the end I only allowed him to take all of our discarded clothing. So therein lies the conundrum: I don't 'miss' the stuff but clearly I am unable to 'let' the stuff go.

      Geesh. My psychiatrist would love this.

      xxx

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  4. Collecting and collecting. Museums collect to discover and reflect history of the area they cover. Collectors collect for many reasons.
    A woman on telly was showing her collection of Royal Memorabilia, cups, plates etc. She had rooms full of them! On the tables, dressers, cupboards, room after room after room! Is this collection or obsession. Why the royals? What causes such women to follow them? A man a while back had a house stuffed full or railways paraphernalia. He mad his wife watch videos of railways hour after hour. I like railways but....
    Collecting as a hobby something you are interested in is one thing, when it is required to fill a gap in the life it becomes an obsession.
    I collect dust, it appears to be everywhere around here.

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    1. I see. Well, I was just wondering. Thank you.

      So museums contain historical stuff then?

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    2. Would you not consider your varied blogs to be collections ?? They are organized, labeled, filled with words and images that are meaningful to you...

      xxx

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    3. I don't think so in my case. My blogs wander from one subject to another without rhyme or reason, depending on what odd thing enters my mind. People who are disciplined enough to write about one narrow subject I would call collectors - collectors of facts and pictures and opinions about one specific thing. A railroad blog. A blog about collecting Barbie Dolls. Don't you think? When I go back to my older posts, I don't often find them meaningful anymore. Now, a person who uses a blog to write chapters in a book about something (BritishSpeak entered life with that fuzzy goal, but soon fell by the wayside when I realized there were already a trillion or so books on the subject.) When you use a blog for content management (as in writing a book) then you qualify for collecting, I think. Or if you have a poetry blog - that's collecting, I would say. Me? I collect music. Maybe I should start a music blog and spoil the fun.:)

      I also collect a lot of hateful comments by a transplanted Scot which have lots of misspellings and lots of misinformed propaganda in them. I can't wait to hear what he has to say about my Jesse Jackson post.

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  5. Then your blogs are a collection of odd things that enter your head. The fact that nobody else can see the connection or why they might have entered your head doesn't make them any the less valid as a collection.

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    1. I don't want to be a collector of rubbish. Are you saying I am a garbage collector? A collection has to be on a certain topic. I can't just say I am a collector of "general information." Can I? What the heck is that? That's a student, not a collector. :) :)

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    2. A collection does not necessarily have to be limited to one specific thing or topic. Blogs are collections of peoples thoughts, ideas, interests etc etc. You just happen to be an eclectic collector. But a collector nonetheless .....

      xxx

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    3. I think you may be getting "collector" mixed up with "pack rat". :)

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    4. Lord grant that I may never become so rigid in my thinking or so cocksure in my opinions that my mind cannot be changed by a superior argument.

      I will accept yours as superior. Sometimes I would argue with a fire hydrant just to argue. :) But I know when to quit.

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    5. Oh. Here I was ready to capitulate to the 'pack rat' in us all ...

      xxx

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  6. I have a tendency to collect some sort of media that intrigues me. I read/watch said media, often over and over until I've absorbed (either consciously or unconsciously) whatever it was I needed from it.

    Sometimes it's escapist. Obsessions with the work of Nelson Eddy and Brendan Fraser (and, no, I can't explain it) helped with a failing/failed marriage.

    When I'm done, I often never go back again. I read the Twilight books over and over (without ever being blind to their flaws) until, apparently, I had what I needed. Haven't felt the urge to pick 'em up since.

    I suspect my current manga obsession is like that too.

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