The Psychology of Collecting
 

I've been thinking about the reasons for my collecting interests, and how they grow and wane and shift over time. Stumbled across this short, but interesting article, about the psychology of collecting. Thought it might help some of us cope with our little cardboard obsessions!

http://nationalpsychologist.com/2007...ing/10904.html

"repetitive acquisition syndrome"......sounds familiar.

Loved this sentence:

"Indeed, some collectors even collect collecting guides."

Yep.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...+guide&_sop=16

guess I resemble that remark
 

as I have a run of ACC guides and many other guides catalogs and collector books dedicated to baseball and non-sports. Quite a few are signed by the original authors. Two of my favorites are the Sotheby's Halper catalog signed by him and my Alan Hager signed price guide :-) Oh yeah - and a copy of Lifson and Mastro's Sideshow freaks book.

I have a variety of collecting guides, too, so I'm not belittling that -- although I don't really collect them in the same way I collect the underlying memorabilia. But the sentence just made me laugh.

Why Do You Collect?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G09aIKMBNhE

As a member (supposedly) of the highest order of life on this planet, I collect for one reason:

Free Will


Come to think of it, since I retired, most everything I do is based on Free Will.


It may be different on other planets...still waiting to be collected myself.




.

Collecting baseball card guides and old hobby periodicals is a ton of fun for a lot of collectors, myself included.

Some collectors collect ads for old baseball card shows and photos of cards.

A baseball card collector was asked why he collected kid's cards. He said he was reliving his boyhood. Sounded as worthy a reason as any.

It's noteworthy that most of the world's great museums (MOMA, etc) were started by private wealthy collectors who donated their collections and money for the building. Many museums wouldn't except for collectors.

I can find almost anything fascinating and have had collections of many different things over the years from bottles to baseball cards.

It's in the genes!!

Collectors--Why do we collect?
 

Agreed, Leon, it is in the genes,
and I liked the Carl Jung hypothesis [that collecting may go back, in terms of human evolution, to food-gathering/picking berries] referenced in the Jefferson Burdick/Met Museum video, which was illuminating.

I'd heard of Burdick through T206 stamped-backs and knew he was a pioneer card-collector, but beyond that I didn't know his inspiring story. Great stuff!

Thanks for this intriguing thread.