[-essay, survey, collecting-]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

- Originally published as an editorial for the October 25 issue of The Practically Creative Quarter, theme: collections - This version was edited slightly to reflect the new context -

When we came up with the idea of COLLECTIONS as a theme for this issue, it seemed like a good fit. Collections are visually interesting and mentally stimulating and collecting is an activity that a lot of creative people - whether they mean to or not - engage in.

I didn’t have a clue that putting together an issue on collections would teach me so much. A zine, I quickly realized, is itself a collection.

Collecting is often thought of as a self-indulgent need to accumulate things but I began to notice - and soon couldn’t help but see - that many of our everyday activities are about collecting. On a personal level, we are collecting when we bookmark web pages, sort emails, gather contacts on Facebook or Flickr, put our recipes in boxes or notebooks, journal our daily experiences, file our papers, hang art on the walls, maintain bulletin boards, blog our thoughts. On an organizational level scientific laboratories gather data, corporations gather customers, libraries, museums and fashion designers - well - they either acquire or create collections, don’t they?

As human beings we seem hardwired to gather things into categories. It’s part of how we make sense of our complicated world, allowing us to claim some special relationship to certain things or people and keep others at arms length. Our relationships with our collections aren’t always comfortable but on some level, they do make sense to us.

Collecting can be divided into two main types. The first is the collection that we purposefully add to, keep, treasure, trade, display but have no intention of using - or - using up. The other kind is the collection we can’t help. It is usually some functional (the accent on fun!) thing that we love to use and therefore cannot help but acquire. And so we acquire and acquire and acquire it until we have so much that we could never use it up! Art and office supplies, books and cds are tops among this kind of collections.

Be sure to check out our these links to our other Collections issue articles and photo essays. I ask your forgiveness in advance for missing your favorite collectible. Putting in every kind of collection is like putting in the WORLD!

• Art supplies (and an interview) with Teesha Moore
• Ephemera
• Toys
• PEZ heads can head here
• Ways to organize collections

We asked our collecting contributors about their habits a short survey and their responses are enthusiastic and fun to read! The survey is below with links to the results. The first three questions are grouped on the same page; the others each have their own post-page. To add your answers and responses, click on the questions, have fun reading the answers and leave your comments after the posts.

Collectors Survey

1. How many collections do you have?

10. What has collecting taught you about people or life?

a good gathering link:
ibiblio - a ‘collection of collections’

In doing this survey, I found out that people are very passionate about their collections so don’t hold back!

A special thank you to all our generous contributors! Please click on their links to see more of their work and play.

Originally published in the October 25 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: collections