Hi Laurie,
Thanks for asking. No scholarly or academic information that I know of,
about a deep rooted or even biologically based inclination to collect, but
there certainly could be.I haven't looked other than incidentally.
My hypothesis is, I think, born of doing some archeology a long time ago and
finding things like beautiful stones or pebbles, very unusually shaped
stones and the like, that bore no evidence of deliberate shaping, and were
not a material being used for tool making but because of the nature of the
surrounding geography or geology could not have gotten there by any other
means than having been brought in by human hands.
It would be an interesting thing to study, actually, but I suppose it would
mean scouring hundreds of archeological site reports, and who knows whether
the reporting archeologists would have even mentioned items that were not
recognizably artifacts or raw material. Many of them probably would not
unless there were a substantial number found.
Any other archeologists out there who want to weigh in?
Lucy
_____
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of las834
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 5:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Exhibits on Collectors and Collecting
Is there any academic/scholarly information that supports your thinking,
Lucy? Because I think it's a very good point.
LAS
_____
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Lucy Sperlin
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 1:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Exhibits on Collectors and Collecting
I wasn't the curator of that exhibit, but it sounds like one I did many
years ago, especially the "why people collect" theme. We had sections on
children's collecting (pretty rocks, marbles, cards, etc.), on illegal
collecting (and how to do it with a camera instead), on various collection
motivating factors like collecting for beauty, collecting for value,
collecting for sentiment, etc. Each had actual collections, or portions
thereof, as examples. It was a lot of fun, fairly easy to pull together,
and visitors enjoyed it because most of them had never thought about these
things.
My home grown (and perhaps only semi-defendable) belief is that primitive
humans had to learn to sort out the world around them, to recognize plants
that were safe to eat, etc., and so developed a keen ability to discern
minor differences among similar things. That trait and gathering things to
us to keep and use led us to the inclination to collect.
Lucy Sperlin
_____
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of las
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 10:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Exhibits on Collectors and Collecting
Oh no, no, no, no, no! The BEST exhibit I have EVER seen on collecting was
an exhibit on the topic of "Why People Collect". A fascinating exhibit
with several rooms of people's "pet" collections including wedding toppers,
unused, labeled tooth brushes, 1970s smiley-face objects, string lights,
etc. The theme was what motivates people to collect and how EVERYONE
collects something (if you have 3 or more of an object...you collect it!)
.This made it a VERY accessible exhibit that EVERYONE could relate to and
have fun with - endless possibilities. I had lunch with the curator many
years later because I was intersted in the topic for my anythropology thesis
and can forward you her name, etc. - it slips my mind right now.
Best,
Laurie
-----Original Message-----
From: David Harvey
Sent: Nov 21, 2008 10:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Exhibits on Collectors and Collecting
Hi Everyone,
There is a wonderful current exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
on - "Hearst The Collector" - displaying many of the objects and art that
were collected by William Randolph Hearst - many that have been brought back
together for the first time since Hearst owned them.
Here is the web page on it:
http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibHearst.aspx
Cheers!
Dave
David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, CA
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