Recently the museum received a collection of coins as part of a larger donation. There are foreign coins from the 1940s and dozens of Indian Head pennies from 1890-1910. They aren’t arranged as a collection necessarily (categorized by mint mark, year, or condition), but as I did an inventory I started thinking about how collections begin.
Indian Head Penny stock photo – ours aren’t this shiny and pretty
For a museum it can be a simple question to answer – we want to preserve items relating to the history of Forney. That’s a fairly broad collecting scope including tools, textiles, cookware, photographs, and other materials dating roughly from the 1870s onward, but they all tie back to our mission of telling the story of Forney.
Why do individuals begin collections? Is it a family hobby that lasts through generations? Does it begin as an investment? Do the items remind people of a specific event or a specific person?
Inspirations for collecting can come from anywhere
I knew someone whose favorite movie as a child was Dumbo so she collected elephant items. It became her “thing”, and nearly every birthday or Christmas present she received eventually fit into the elephant theme. It’s as if her friends and family became conditioned to see an elephant and think “Oh, T might like that.”
A receipt in the FHPL archives
Many people assume that I am a collecting person by nature because I work in a museum. I understand that even things which may seem relatively inconsequential at the time of use (like a 1904 receipt for bales of cotton) can be valuable or at least interesting in later years.
But I don’t collect anything. I usually pick up a small souvenir when I go on a trip, but I generally live clutter-free (despite what my office looks like at present). I don’t collect coins or stamps, patterns of china or silver, comic books or movie memorabilia, first editions of novels, or figurines of a favorite animal. Maybe because I spend time inventorying and organizing things at work I don’t want to do it at home, too. But mostly I never felt the draw or connection to a certain object to begin collecting in the first place.
I also wonder what happens to collections over time, like when the collector tires of the pursuit, runs out of space, or eventually takes ill. Say I collected dolls all my adult life and even have some considered rare or valuable. What if my children or relatives have no interest in taking them? Where do they go? Antiques dealer? Garage sale? Salvation Army? There might be a place I could donate them (a local museum, hint hint), but what if I collect bottle caps? Would any museum want those?*
Who wouldn’t want to inherit this?
I wouldn’t want my collection to be a burden to my heirs, but I’d be hesitant to part with something which I had devoted so much time and effort to, and which presumably brought me joy. Could I just let it go? Might it even be a relief finally to be done with it? Should I do whatever I want and let them sort it out after I’m gone?
I suppose I’ll have to start a collection to find out. Any suggestions?
Kendall
Do you collect anything? Leave a comment on our facebook page.
*The answer is yes.
Check out the Bottle-Cap Museum: http://www.bottlecapmuseum.com/museum2.html
Talk to the Bottle Cap Man: http://thebottlecapman.com/
Or join the Crowncap Collectors Society International: http://www.bottlecapclub.org
