The Practice of Collecting

Individuals have been collecting for centuries. Today, collections of dolls, plush toys, figurines, baseball cards, and die-cast sculptures can be founds in almost half of all U.S. households. Clothing and textiles have also been collected and exhibited by a variety of individuals and institutions, including museums of art, design, history, and ethnography (Steele, 2008). According to Russell Belk (2001), the spectacular growth of mass production, mass distribution, and mass communication parallels the similarly dramatic growth of mass consumption, mass individual collecting, and musem collecting (p. 1). Belk continues that individual collecting is, "the process of actively, selectively, and passionately acquiring and possessing objects and experiences" (p. 67).

Objects undergo a metamorphosis when they are collected. Everyday things are transformed-they are managed and valued in ways that are much different from those of the objects' past intended use. In textile and clothing museums, fashion that was once worn and then discarded due to changing tatstes, finds a permanent home where it is suited, cared for, and exhibited in evironmentally-controlled storage and gallery spaces. These garments present opportunities to examine and interpret social, economic, technological, and political components of history. There are many reasons why people collect including, but not limited to, enjoyment of acquiring and admiring their collections, to show individualism and accomplishment, to bond as a community of collectors, and in an effort to remember and to relive the past.

References:

Belk, R.W. (1995). Collecting in a consumer society. London and New York: Routledge.

Steele, V. (2008). Museum quality: The rise of the fashion exhibition. Fashion Theory, 12(1), 7-30.