Thursday, October 8, 2009

A Collection of Thoughts on Collections

At first, I wasn't going to do a Collections post because like Baino, I don't collect anything. I'm the anti-collector; my favorite thing to do is to throw things out.

Children must instinctively know what drives their parents to insanity and then practice it to excess. My kids collect everything from toy cars to empty candy wrappers. And I'm not allowed to throw anything out. Of course, I do throw things out. And then all hell breaks loose.

I did have a small collection of pens from around the United States. When I worked at the Kennedy Center in DC, I was in charge of a children's tour. They would tour the country and send me pens from wherever they were. I didn't start the collection, the tours would just send them to me.

Eventually, they broke and we moved and I got to practice my favorite pastime and throw them out.
Then Megan's post inspired me because she talked about Church collections. I never collected money for Church but I have collected it for Theater. When I worked at the Saratoga Shakespeare Company, we performed outdoors in a park. After the performance the actors would wander through the audience collecting donations. At the end of the night, I counted all the money.

Finally, Kimy's post reminded me of a museum near me in Dolyestown, PA. The Mercer Museum was built to house Henry Mercer's collection of pre-industrial age Americana. What's amazing to me is that he knew, somehow, that life was changing and that if he didn't collect these instruments, furniture, boats, etc., they would be gone forever. It's a great museum, overflowing with items and a great place to take kids. The picture at the right is only a small representation of it. Lucky for us, he was the total opposite of me in terms of collecting.

So, thanks to all who inspired me to contribute. I think that's the best part of Theme Thursday: reading the collection of various thoughts, ideas, and stories on a single subject.

16 comments:

  1. the mercer museum is a pretty cool place...are those pens the ones that when you tilt them something slides across? mu dad used to bring them home from trips...sometimes i just need to declutter as well...not too much dust collecting...

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  2. hey like the feature film quote of the moment - never noticed this before

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  3. hey my earlier comment disappeared! anyway to repeat myself I said happy that you decided to play as it's fun to see who is a passer and who is a packer (as in pack rat, er mouse)

    also pens do seem to spontaneously reproduce in my house but then when I need one I can't find one!

    the mercer museum has been on my must see list for a while - thanks for the reminder, gotta make a point next time I'm in the area!!

    anyhow

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  4. I agree, it is part of the fun, going from post to post. Sort of collecting, in a way. :)

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  5. Well, today, you get to collect comments. Nice twist on today's theme. I'm more of a minimalist myself. Happy Thursday.

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  6. The older I get, the better I become at "weeding out" the stuff that fills my space. You are by far much ahead of a lot of us!

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  7. i've taken now to collecting t-shirts from running races...and they are useful things as well.

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  8. your best line: "indulge in my favorite past time and throw them out". I need to do some of that. You are so right. We parents may be packrats but kids are the worst!

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  9. My oldest had a pencil collection all through grade school. I had forgotten about it until i read this! fun, fun!

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  10. You have a wonderful group of followers! I see that you linked Baino and Megan, two of my favorite people!

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  11. I could spend days in that museum, I bet. Glad you decided to play this week, after all.

    I agree it is great fun seeing all the different takes on one theme.

    What an incredibly cool bunch of bloggers we are, to be sure! :)

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  12. You know, I didn't think I was a collector but after reading these posts, I have little collections of memorabilia, things that have emotional ties, memories . . I guess we're all collectors at the core. I do admire those who see potential in the every day and bother to hoard it until it's something rare. We have a wonderful museum here inside the old Sydney Powerhouse (called of course, the Powerhouse Museum) and it has amazing collections of every day stuff from trains to laminated kitchen furniture . . .trip down memory lane every time I go ..

    I did get the shock of my life years ago when I went to Mass and they had two collections with a velvet collection thingy that had a hole in the bottom so that coins would fall through . . yep. . .had to be notes! Smart thinking!

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  13. What a good idea for theme thursday,collection of thoughts!I'm not much of a collector myself but I enjoy reading the posts of the ones who are!I like your blog too!thank you for stopping by and de ces mots en français!;)

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  14. Kate, nice take on the theme and would just looove to tour the Mercer Museum!

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  15. I love the Mercer Museum!

    Interesting post, and yes my daughter hoards little bits and pieces of collected things that must not under any circumstance be touched, moved, or, heaven forfend, thrown out!

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  16. Have to agree with Megan, we are a bunch of cool bloggers. And Tom, I'm trying to collect race shirts myself! Happy Weekend everyone!

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