collectors and collecting

For the most part materials at the Milstein Division include print and electronic resources. A particularly unique collection held in our stacks is a seven-volume set of scrapbooks filled with World War I and World War II shoulder patches. Recently, these scrapbooks were treated by the Conservation Lab staff who lovingly restored them, cleaning the patches and encapsulating the pages. Conservation staff enjoyed this project thoroughly and invited Mr. Burger to the lab to view the newly stabilized albums; the meeting was recorded in the above video. The scrapbooks have been returned to the closed stacks of the Milstein Division and are now available for limited and supervised viewing.

Having spent a week indulging the collector in me, I’ve returned newly sensitized to the issues behind being bit by the collecting bug. Strangely enough, there are few books that really explore the motivations and psychology behind collecting. While a collector may wax eloquent about his or her objects of desire, that person is often tongue-tied when it comes to explaining just why they had to acquire those items.

A number of the main articles in Art & Antiques and ArtNews often include interviews with wealthy collectors of the fine arts. Yet I’ve usually found that their acquisition motivations were fairly predictable, and undoubtedly not the whole (and more interesting) story. My excursions to the Popular Culture Association’s Collectibles section talks led me to more intriguing individuals: the collector of virtual reality games, Texas’s Dr. Pepper collectible fanatics, and the person planning to open a museum with a comprehensive collection of barbed wire. And let’s not forget the many, many people who enjoy collecting vintage fashions and accessories.

The literature on collecting is actually pretty amusing. You can find a number of titles in the NYPL that purport to “explain” collecting. Some are from the 1920s, like The Amateur collector; everybody’s book on collecting (1924), and a surprisingly large number of books on collecting date from the 1950s. For a more modern, realistic take on collector pathology, you can look at Hugo Munsterberg’s Collecting: an unruly passion. The magic of auctions is well scribed by John L. Marion, of Sotheby’s fame, in his The Best of Everything: the insider’s guide to collecting-for every taste and every budget.

Yet even with these publications, an overarching question remains. Why has collecting become so important in our contemporary pop culture? Surely consumerism isn’t reason enough…is it?

P.S. Rest in peace, Mr. Blackwell. Your rhymes were a sort of inspiration to me. Do others feel as I do that Richard Blackwell’s often scathing remarks were made actually because he really did care so much about fashion?

Last weekend’s Heard Museum Indian Market and Guild Fair in Phoenix took place under sunny skies and a balmy 81 degree temperature. The event was well-attended, although the quiet buzz among artist participants was worry over the effects of the economy. Fine and decorative art sales usually suffer when the economy is perceived as weakened. The jewelers told me how the price of silver and gold and other precious materials had gone up, and their dilemma was whether to pass on these costs in raised prices or not. Having attended the Fair last year, I didn’t see a too appreciably obvious rise in prices, but this trend has to have had an effect on consumers.

Nothing stopped us collectors who swarmed the sidewalks of Central Ave prior to the opening of the gates. I sprinted to my favorite jeweler’s booth and had first choice of two delectable Navajo silver and stone bracelet cuffs. My favorite clothing designers, Virginia Ballinger-Yazzie (Navajo) and Tammy Beauvais (Iroquois), had a blanket coat and shawl just waiting for me. Serious buying completed, I could relax and enjoy the fair and the many friends and acquaintances encountered. If you want to see the result of one collector’s infatuation and determination to learn how to buy well, check out this book: Southwest Silver Jewelry.