Collections

[TC Chris]

Most of us here are collectors. We've got old stuff--electronics, vehicles, various other things that we think are cool. For me, once I've got 3 or 4 of something, a collection is underway. For big things like consoles or floor model radios, the challenge is storage. I'm always intrigued by pictures of perfect houses, not even a magazine in sight, or those garages with shiny floors and little more than a rake and a floor broom hanging on fancy wall brackets. My two-car garage has room for one car, and the rest is devoted to a kayak, a rowing shell, an iceboat, a bunch of bikes, 3 consoles, a movie camera collection, small radios on shelves, one floor model radio, and on and on. It's all valuable stuff. And if I need a cardboard box, I can usually find the right size. As to my house, well, the collections and I share the space.

So I was gratified to hear an interview with the filmmaker Judd Apatow. I recognized his name because his films and such are popular, even though I've only seen one, Bridesmaids, (and stopped watching after 20 minutes of boredom).

But here's what caught my attention. "I'm a collector," he said. He went on to say he's got 7 storage units, and then went on to point out that they are carefully curated. It's good stuff, not the hoarder's collection of old newspapers, kitty litter, and plain junk. We've all seen pix of those. But when he likes things, he collects them. I think most of us can identify with that sentiment. The interview was on NPR's Fresh air, and you ca listen here:

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/28/nx-s1-55 ... omedy-nerd

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I'm glad to know I'm "normal". When I get more than one of something that I like, it turns into a collection that typically gets out of control. I worked on a '55 Buick radio when I was in the restoration business, was impressed with its performance and build quality so I decided to get ONE for myself. I now have over 20 tube Buick radios from 1950 to 1959. When we had our auction, I owned almost 300 radios. I agreed to sell all "but a dozen or so" of the ones that worked best and that I liked best. I saved exactly 50. I had two old record players, family heirlooms, that I wanted to get working. I have exactly 26 record players that work, a few more that need attention. This stuff is all organized and sort of displayed. My wife thinks I'd make a good episode of "Hoarders--Buried Alive". I consider myself a collector. It is a matter of prospective......

[TC Chris]

Hoarders are completely indiscriminate--anything gets saved, just because. Collectors exercise some degree of judgment. That was Apatow's point--he saves stuff he likes. I add a couple more criteria. Is it something somebody else might need? Something I might, with a reasonable degree of certainty, need?

There must be a genetic component. My Mom saved documents and records, so I have the dealer invoices (hand written & typed-up) and window sticker and cancelled payment check and original title for my Chevy. My grandmother saved all my Dad's letters home from college and from Europe in WW II; Mom saved hers from him in the war too. Are these valuable or necessary? No, not at all, but they are valued as a picture of life in late '30s Ann Arbor and early '40s Army life. I studied history for a while and came to realize that we know the past by what got saved. Records that burned up or got flooded? All gone. A box of letters that survived? Our view of that time & place is fixed by those.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

My grandmother was a saver as well. She was also tight with her money and never wasted anything. I really believe I got my tendency to collect from her.