What Should Museums Throw Out? At a time when controversial moves by major art museums are making the public more aware than ever of how museums collect or discard objects, the University College of London's museum invites visitors to play curator in the exhibit Disposal, viewing some white-elephant objects and determining their fate. The museum also just wrapped up another innovative exhibit on objects and point of vew, Object Retrieval, in which one object was explored and responded to by a rolling team of contributors from varying displines, 24 hours a day, for one week.
posted by Miko on Oct 22, 2009 - 22 comments

AMASSBLOG my name is james phillips williams. most everyone calls me jp. i have been a designer in new york for 20 years. i started this blog at the urging of my friends and fellow designers who were familiar with my manic collecting. my collections are varied but generally have to do with typography or design.
posted by OmieWise on Aug 31, 2009 - 11 comments

Ephemera Assemblyman a weblog. Personal favorites: Film Poster Paintings from Ghana :: Magician Souvenir Programs :: Abraham Lincoln Political Cartoons :: (The Art of) Spanish Rolling Papers :: Tickets from Political Conventions. Much more to be explored.
posted by Ufez Jones on Aug 28, 2009 - 18 comments

Now there's a 1000$ worth cups of coffee. Beautifully done by the very talented Mike Harding.
posted by lipsum on Aug 24, 2009 - 48 comments

Best of Wikipedia: A twice-daily updated collection of some of the best reading on Wikipedia. Created and maintained by avinash.vora.
posted by nickyskye on Jul 28, 2009 - 15 comments

The Merkel brothers are the grandsons of steam car makers and sons of an African art collector, and each have carried forward the love of collecting and an interest in cars from the previous generations. Henry Merkel is a recognized White expert, who continues to share knowledge of his family's productions and his knowledge of White steam cars has been published. Ben Merkel focused on collecting Checkered Cabs, and has has a love for peaceful rural junkyards. The youngest grandson of Walter White is Tom Merkel, and his love for collecting old cars outstrips his brothers by miles (print view). Somewhere in the Cuyama Valley, just outside of Los Padres National Forest land is his "car garden," which is also where the snowman that once adorned Santa Claus Lane now resides. His other love is 91+ year old cabin, which he indicates is "Santa Barbara's oldest cabin!" and a "Folk Art Magic Museum!" on the signs around the property, but which the Forest Service wants to tear down. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 21, 2009 - 6 comments

Circuits are flipping on in the nation's attic. A couple of weeks ago, 31 "digerati" -- like Clay Shirky, Chris Anderson, and George Oates -- dropped in to the Smithsonian Institution for the invitation-only conference "Smithsonian 2.0: A Gathering to Re-imagine the Smithsonian in the Digital Age". Dan Cohen of the Center for History and New Media provides a great summary (and continues to pose provocative questions) on his own blog. Those whose invitations were somehow lost in the mail can play fly-on-the-wall by watching the keynotes, paging through the Flickr pool of envymaking glimpses of their behind-the-scenes lab and collections tours, reading the blog (where Bruce Wyman of the Denver Art Museum lays out a succinct road map for museums using social media), and poking around in the SI's website gallery. Want to cheer on the USA's favorite 163-year-old "Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge" without taking the trip to DC? Thanks to their recent efforts, you can now follow the SI on Twitter, listen to its podcasts, watch its YouTube channel, visit the Latino Virtual Museum in Second Life, or use the FaceBook gifts page to send your best friends their very own pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers, Hope diamond, Negro Leagues baseball, or coelocanth.
posted by Miko on Feb 27, 2009 - 13 comments

"Collected during my time working from Bangalore, these matchboxes are the tangible memories of my various travels and experiences through India." via (with interview)
posted by gman on Feb 13, 2009 - 26 comments

The Neoclassical Gem Collection of Prince Poniatowski - Prince Stanislas Poniatowski was the vastly wealthy nephew of the last King of Poland. Living in Rome, he built up a stunning collection of gems depicting scenes like Hercules Bagging the Pygmies in the Skin of the Nemean Lion. The collection was sold by Christie's at auction in 1839 and that's when the questions started… [pdf]
posted by tellurian on Oct 23, 2008 - 15 comments

The Archive. A short film by Sean Dunn and Ed David. "The world is dead out there. They have their ears closed. They don't understand what's going on at this moment. It's gonna take them 10, 15, 20 years to wake up and realize what they missed." Nobody has more records than Paul Mawhinney. He's ready to sell the whole thing for 6 cents on the dollar of their worth. 3 million records for $1 each. And nobody is buying. (Previously on Mefi.) [more inside]
posted by grabbingsand on Aug 20, 2008 - 24 comments

Libraries are neat. The New York Public Library has uploaded a collection of menus dating from 1851 to 1956 thanks largely to the efforts of collector Miss Frank E. Buttolph, a "mysterious and passionate figure whose mission in life was to collect menus" and whose unique collection aroused the interest of the NYT of her day (1, 2).
posted by prefpara on Jul 30, 2008 - 28 comments

So lemony and wonderful. Of course I searched the Metafilter Archives. I wanted to be sure I was not reposting a link. But I did find one reference to moist towelettes from machaus

"Many individuals have asked me in past months, Why moist towelette collecting? Why not stamp collecting, or numismatics? To be different, perhaps? " posted by machaus (12 comments total) back in 2001.

Well -- Machaus -- now you know where you can leave your collection when preparing your will.
posted by RubberHen on Jul 29, 2008 - 27 comments

The following is a list of over 3600 titles recorded from my collection of 78 rpm records....Right now, there are over 2,450 titles on this page linked to mp3's....I have about 2500 more records to record, so I'll be adding more titles as time permits over the next hundred years or so....I loaded a searchable ACCESS database for this list HERE. [.mdb] I don't know if it will work for everyone. Good luck! [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Jul 24, 2008 - 84 comments

The Historic American Sheet Music archive at the Duke University Library has over 3000 pieces published in the United States available online, from the 1850s up to 1920. Composers represented include well-known names such as Scott Joplin, Irving Berlin, and John Philip Sousa. All the music is now in the public domain, and may be printed and performed freely. [Note: Language or stereotypes may occasionally be NSFW.]
posted by Upton O'Good on Jul 22, 2008 - 7 comments

"New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources was created to serve as a starting point for research using Library of Congress collections of New Deal program materials." Includes links to numerous collections of digitized materials, including photos, posters, music, manuscripts and more. [more inside]
posted by dersins on Jul 15, 2008 - 4 comments

The Sidney D Gamble Photograph Collection at Duke University consists of about 5,000 newly digitised pictures, taken predominantly in China between 1917 and 1932. Browse by subject, category or location tags. Photos taken in 1908 are to be added in the future. [via]
posted by peacay on Jul 9, 2008 - 5 comments

I Love My Life The Way It Is. A collection-in-progress of unscratched scratch-off lottery tickets, the project is the brainchild of Ali Alvarez, who hopes to collect at least 8000 tickets, enough to fill a 12x12 room from floor to ceiling. Alvarez is soliciting donations of unscratched tickets from volunteers around the world, and has posted pictures of some of the ones received so far. The idea of an unscratched lottery ticket makes some people "a little crazy," but Alvarez hopes the collection will cause people to explore the ideas of "getting your hopes high, dreaming, escaping, and then usually being let down." Via.
posted by amyms on Jun 14, 2008 - 75 comments

From a .com to a .info netting the price of a Westinghouse (R-Skirt) "Telluride" Type B. SB (part of the Greatest Insulator Find in the History of the Hobby). via Zoltan Drinoczi. [previously]
posted by tellurian on May 21, 2008 - 15 comments

From Aircraft to Zodiac, from Tricks to Trucks, the Zippo Gallery has something for everyone. (Well, everyone who likes Zippos, anyway.)
posted by dersins on Apr 22, 2008 - 5 comments

Do you love music? Do you have at least 3 million dollars? If you answered "yes" to these questions then you may be interested in bidding on "The World's Greatest Music Collection." (single link to ebay auction)
posted by anathema on Feb 18, 2008 - 44 comments

Club Little Gun, a bunch of tiny guns built into things from rings to crosses. Eat your heart out, Indiana Jones, the whip pistol. via [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Jan 31, 2008 - 10 comments

DDR-Modell Autos.info meticulously catalogs radio controlled and flywheel powered cars made by East German (DDR) toy makers such as Presu, Elmes, MSW, Anker, Piko, Gevo, Plasticart and Sommermeyer.
posted by riffola on Jan 7, 2008 - 5 comments

The Ephemera Society was glancingly mentioned prior, but deserves a better mention. It includes:
—An exhibit, an article, and links to Michael Ragsdale's 9/11 ephemera.
—A history of Coca-cola print ephemera.
—An article by Will Shortz on the ephemeral history of the crossword.
—Articles from the Louisiana Library Association's journal issue on ephemera, including Principles for Organizing an Ephemera Collection and an Overview of Political Ephemera.
posted by klangklangston on Jan 5, 2008 - 11 comments

Man, this guy really likes pencils.
posted by dersins on Oct 29, 2007 - 26 comments

The Art of Sharpening the Pencil (You've GOT to check out the bizarre pencil sharpener at the bottom of the page. "You'll poke your eye out!"). [more inside]
posted by spock on Oct 23, 2007 - 33 comments

This is James Savage's spare room, which contains one hundred Apple computers. He has more than 150 in his house and all of them are working perfectly, from an Apple II+ and a Lisa to the latest MacBook Pro. (One entrant among many in Gizmodo's Best Computer Rig contest.)
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Oct 4, 2007 - 53 comments

"My Star Wars Collection" A devoted fan made tiny pixel illustrations of his collection of over 500 Star Wars action figures. [via]
posted by kirkaracha on Sep 27, 2007 - 16 comments

Mutatoes is a photographic collection by artist Uli Westphal of non-standard fruits and vegetables found at Berlin groceries and farmers' markets. The distorted, the discolored, the bumpy, the stumpy, the coiled and the conjoined all get star treatment. (Flash site)
posted by hydrophonic on Jul 27, 2007 - 21 comments

CRUD CRUD, brief reviews from a thrift store record collection. Also, Gibble Gabble, spoken-word record reviews, from the same collector.
posted by serazin on Jun 8, 2007 - 6 comments

On-board Safety Cards Collection ...and don't miss The international women of aircraft safety cards. [via Travelers Diagram]
posted by soundofsuburbia on Mar 22, 2007 - 11 comments

The Rare Book Room presents about 400 of the world's greatest books from a variety of libraries in high resolution format. For some samples, check out: Apianus (Astronomicum Caesareum); Blake (Songs of Innocence and Experience); Braccelli (Bizzarie di Varie Figure); Catesby (The Natural History of Carolina...); Dürer (De Symmetria...); Colonna (Hypnerotomachia Poliphili). And on and on. The interface is great (use arrow far left at top for larger page image) but there's a slight browser resize in FFox. A couple of author names are placeholders for future uploads it seems. [via]
posted by peacay on Mar 12, 2007 - 25 comments

Esquire sends out 250 napkins to writers across America - from prolific novelists to those finishing off first works. Nearly a hundred respond back - from sex to frustration, poetry to twisted liaisons, even a mini book and plans for murder.
posted by divabat on Feb 27, 2007 - 22 comments

Electronic Literature Collection, volume 1
posted by signal on Jan 24, 2007 - 5 comments

A periodic table of visualization methods.
posted by fatllama on Jan 7, 2007 - 13 comments

Boris Plotnikoff's Gasmask Collection, Heavy Rubber.
posted by hama7 on Nov 11, 2006 - 11 comments

Please throw this away! Vintage photo collector finds cache of 1950s-era spanking fetish photos. Collection included newspaper clippings about spanking and a letter from a very naughty girl. Most of the images are pretty innocent by modern standards, but at the bottom of the last link some are NSFW. Enjoy!
posted by Brittanie on Oct 29, 2006 - 21 comments

Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales asks: Imagine there existed a budget of $100 million to purchase copyrights to be made available under a free license. What would you like to see purchased and released under a free license? Photos libraries? textbooks? newspaper archives? Be bold, be specific, be general, brainstorm, have fun with it. And they do.
posted by divabat on Oct 22, 2006 - 60 comments

Picture-History.com has "thousands of the most important photographs of the last 150 years", organised by collections and themes.
posted by MetaMonkey on Sep 21, 2006 - 17 comments

Inspired by a convention in 1999, First Day covers, and his grandfather's autograph collection, Jeremy Adolphson sends off 4x6 index cards to various artists with return postage, hoping for a doodle. 5 years on, he has sixty-five galleries (some NSFW) worth of art to share.
posted by divabat on Aug 29, 2006 - 9 comments

Sechtl-Vosecek. A collection of photographs taken over the last 150 years are in the process of being digitized. Check out the Sokol costume ball Šibřinky or take a trip from Bechyně to Tábor. Also available is a selection concentrating on Bukhara from the Prokudin-Gorsky Collection. And much, much, more.
posted by tellurian on Apr 17, 2006 - 7 comments

For some, it's an obsession. For others it's just a hobby. Some people just buy it, others make it. Some live to consume it, but sometimes it's not made to consume; just to collect. It's funny, racy, generic and specific. In any case, it's an interesting reflection of current events and popular culture.
posted by Kickstart70 on Apr 2, 2006 - 56 comments

Igor Sergeev has been collecting full, unopened cigarette packs from all over the world since 1976. His site now features over 21,000 photos, arranged in alphabetical order by brand name. Some are fascinating simply for the way they differ from what we're used to seeing at the 7-11; others are straight-up nine kinds of awesome.
posted by Gator on Mar 20, 2006 - 38 comments

Limited Edition Candy. By our very own interrobang
posted by rocketman on Feb 8, 2006 - 39 comments

The Roots Music Listening Room for Collectors of American Roots Music. We feature Old-Time Strings Bands, Ballads & Breakdowns, Early Blues & Gospel, some Early Jazz, Vintage Country Gospel, Early Bluegrass and various Ethnic Musics played by immigrants to America. Most of this material was originally recorded in the 1920s through the early 1950s and was first issued on 78 RPM Records. (Out of consideration for others only download about 15-20 songs in one day.)
posted by crunchland on Feb 7, 2006 - 22 comments

comic pinbacks : a free reference and research guide for vintage comic pinbacks from the 1890s to the 1950s.
posted by crunchland on Nov 16, 2005 - 9 comments

Odd Books dedicated to that constant source of delight and wonder, the second-hand bookshop. (via)
posted by crunchland on Jul 15, 2005 - 11 comments

I LOVE SHREDDED WHEAT: A collectible site for The shredded Wheat Company, niagara Falls, NY - and its predecessors and successors - [A collectors’ Site, with no connection to any corporation]
posted by mwhybark on Apr 2, 2005 - 10 comments

Collect Britain 'presents 90,000 images and sounds from the British Library, chosen to evoke places in the UK and beyond.' Dialects, gardens, sketches, stamps, and all kinds of stuff.
posted by plep on Mar 4, 2005 - 4 comments

"Behold, I am the Collector! ...And I have come to add you to my collection!"
posted by keswick on Feb 24, 2005 - 98 comments

Imitation chicken. Kennedy Fried Chicken, JFK Fried Chicken, J. F. Kennedy Fried Chicken, Kantacky Fried Chicken, et al. [via cardhouse]
posted by sklero on Dec 30, 2004 - 41 comments