MetaFilter posts tagged with collections

Ceremonious Trespassing

chavenet — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 01:43:21 -0800

Mysterious Skin: The Realia of William Gaddis For the dilettante, as opposed to the scholar, the great thing about realia is that it is what it is, initially just objects on their own, whereas the notes and the drafts and the manuscripts all connect and threaten to pool together, drowning you in their paper mass. While a scholar might want to, say, do a study on the various corporate jobs that Gaddis held for most of his adult life and see how his various written reports have cycled back into his fiction—my sources at the library say that several different scholars have traveled from far and wide to undertake this “unique” study—the dilettante just wants to take a starry-eyed stroll through the museum of mundane objects. A zebra skin, a player-piano roll and a pair of women’s shoes. Any one of them is just the kind of artifact that could be found by accident at a quality estate sale, yet the fact that these once were part of the rote material life of a reclusive and complex novelist make the dilettante want to hunt them out and take a closer look, one by one. Link to the William Gaddis Collection at Washington University, St. Louis More about Sheri Martinelli: wikipedia; A Modernist Muse

micro cars are the best cars

ninjew — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 10:48:05 -0800

The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum, located near Atlanta, will close forever today. The collection will be auctioned off in February. Only the virtual tour will remain as a way to see all of these cars together, but now is your chance to collect any one of these unique pieces of automotive history. Who among us hasn't desired a car you could drive into your office? The microcar, a vehicle born out of need, was a child of its time and became the symbol of a people's spirit. World War II came to an end in 1945 and Europe lay in ruins... From the smallest production car ever built, a 1964 Peel P-50, to the Italian iteration of the Messerschmitt, known as the Mivalino, the only 100 percent original one in the world, the collection quite literally contains everything—every imaginable Biscuter, an assortment of four Goggomobil Transporters, of which few additional examples exist, and such rarities as a 1955 Kleinschnittger F-125 and two Voisin Biscooters, the extraordinary microcar built by legendary French aviation and automotive engineer Gabriel Voisin. Headlining the offering is the world’s only complete Messerschmitt collection, spanning from a 1953 KR175 to the second to last serial number known to exist. It also includes the only surviving 1961 Messerschmitt KR201 Sport, an incredibly rare 1957 Messerschmitt KR201 Roadster, and a highly desirable ‘Tiger,’ the rarest of all Messerschmitts and the only one finished in this color combination. Deemed the fastest microcar ever built, the ‘Tiger’ is capable of a top speed exceeding 70 mph—a truly impressive feat considering its size. Another lot of particular interest is the 1955 Messerschmitt KR200, formerly owned by American circus personality and entertainer Vic Hyde. This pint-sized treasure was given to Hyde by the factory as the first pre-production example for publicity purposes and specially outfitted to hold his musical instruments. The incomparable Isetta, with its timeless “bubble car” design, is also well-represented in the Bruce Weiner Museum. Aside from a pair of BMW 600s, the BMW Isetta 300 is presented in every imaginable version, from an original German police car acquired directly from the police chief, to a “Jagdwagen” (hunting car), the ultra-rare 1957 Isettacarro ‘Pickup Truck,’ and the most desirable of all—an Isetta 300 Bubble-Window Cabriolet. Other delightful bubble cars were built under license in other countries, such as the Velam Isetta of France and the progenitor of them all, the Iso Isetta. In other cases, the bubble car is presented as a marque all its own, such as the Heinkel Kabine. the digital catalogue is really worth reading. a few other favorites: 1970 Honda N600 1962 Mazda R-360 Coupe 1958 Berkeley Sports SE328 1965 NSU-Fiat Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica 1970 Subaru 360 Sambar Pickup previously

Magnificent obsessions

growabrain — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:05:54 -0800

Jay Raymond collects irons. Until 2007 he collected only streamlined irons: In the U.S. this meant irons made between 1932 and 1952. In 2007 he sold that collection of about 180 irons, and he now collects electric irons made between 1890-1925.
Alan Davies collects old bricks.
Rev Doug Dawson owns about 900 harmonicas.
Shaun Kotlarsky collects electrical and telegraph insulators. He has about 2,000 of them.
Bob Manning collects Mickey Mouse ties. Edoardo Flores, a retired international civil servant from Turin, collects 'Do Not Disturb' door hangers from hotels, cruise ships and airlines around the world. He has about 7,000. Michael van Kleeff, retired silversmith, collects midcentury clocks and other kitschy items. Jo Pond collects brushes and Kirsten Hively collects volvelles, (also known as wheel charts, info charts, etc.). Martin Parr collects Osama Bin Laden ephemera. All those and MANY more can be found at Obsessionistas: "From the curious and fun to the uniquely significant, the things people choose to collect help reflect their values and say a lot about who they are." Similar: Coudal’s Museum of Online Museums

The Vulgar Metal of Which Coal-Scuttles Are Made

netbros — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:43:36 -0800

Your change, with thanks — Among the refinements of middle-class Victorian shopping was the giving of change not directly from hand to hand but in paper packets. The envelope, known as a ‘change packet,’ measured some 60 mm (2 ½ in) square and was printed with the legend ‘The change, with thanks’, often in a decorative roundel or other device. This is but one of years of posts from the Graphic Arts Blog, a collection of exhibitions, acquisitions, and other highlights from the Graphic Arts Collection, Princeton University Library. Other areas of interest include: Publisher's trade bindings originally bound with Margaret Neilson Armstrong’s decorative gold stamping. Sweet Papers, a single sheet of sixteen candy wrappers with color printed vignette and letterpress joke below. Albert Paine tracked down every article, commentary, column, and publisher’s announcement regarding Nast’s life and stuffed them into the Thomas Nast Archive. Memoirs and Anecdotes of Monsieur Alexandre, the Celebrated Dramatic Ventriloquist. Adventures of a Ventriloquist; or, The Rogueries of Nicholas . . . . Illustrations by Robert Cruikshank. Graphic Art holds a rare copy of the memoir of Nicolas-Marie-Alexandre Vattemare (1796-1864), an actor, ventriloquist, quick-change artist, and philanthropist, who used as his stage name Monsieur Alexandre. There is so much more...

"If you have your checkbook in your car I will be happy to wait for you."

reenum — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:44:21 -0800

Hospitals in Minnesota have hired a collections company that plants its employees in the ER, squeezing money out of patients before they can get further care.

guilt-free time sink

madamjujujive — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:18:51 -0800

290 cultural Icons in their own words - a nicely curated collection of audio & video clips of great artists, writers & thinkers ... Einstein, Eliot, Beckett, Nabakov, Malcom X, Muddy Waters, Georgia O'Keefe, Zora Neale Hurston & 282 more

Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill

thomas j wise — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:07:31 -0800

Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill Collection provides visitors with the opportunity to view a virtual reconstruction of Walpole's extensive collections--everything from armor to wall hangings--housed in his custom-built Gothic villa, Strawberry Hill. (For video tours and discussions of its ornamentation, ongoing restoration &c., check out the Strawberry Hill Youtube Channel.) Objects can be viewed according to maker, type, or room; there's also a virtual tour, based on contemporary paintings and sketches. For more about Walpole, plus links to e-texts of his fiction (most famously, the pioneering Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto), visit The Literary Gothic.

Archivist Asseblage Art

cross_impact — Wed, 25 May 2011 07:31:17 -0800

"Collections wrap bare objects with cultural identity." Smithsonian archivist turned assemblage artist Tracy Hicks finds the seam between two things I didn't think were related -- dispassionate taxonomy and artistic whims. You can catch Hicks' installation at the American Association of Museums conference showing his interpretation of the future of museums (if by "future" you mean a Lovecraftian dystopia.) I saw him at the AAM's Future of Museums Conference. Thought he was interesting. That is all.

The site should smell like a musty book.

kensch — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:58:20 -0800

The US Library of Congress has updated their site to be more user friendly. Collections are now very easy to explore. All of the fun of wandering around a library without leaving your chair. Other interesting pages on the LOC site: See what happened Today In History. The LOC now provides access to a trove of musical history via their Music Treasures Consortium. Mozart's "Concerto di Cembalo". Johann S. Bach's "Festo Visitationis Maria". Well, there goes my afternoon.

The Richard Balzer Collection

brundlefly — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:10:26 -0800

"I have been collecting for more than thirty years, and my collecting wanders around the theme of visual entertainment, and almost all of the collection dates from before 1900. Over time you will find magic lanterns, peepshows, shadows, transparencies, thaumatropes, phenakistascopes and a variety of other optical toys. You may find things that seem odd in this collection, however, always remember that collecting is a very personal thing and these items may stretch the boundaries of visual entertainment but nevertheless have found a place in my collection." Via @CarinBerger.

90 years from the streets of Budapest

madamjujujive — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:01:42 -0800

Fortepan is a collection of 4973 found amateur photos sourced mainly in Budapest. Pick a year and browse - photos are organized in chronological order from 1900 to 1990, accessible via a slider. "Users are encouraged to use, copy, send to friends, clip or paste the photos, which are free for they are not our property." (via Szanalmas, sometimes nsfw)

Shelf life

Artw — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:22:18 -0800

I'm like a character in a dystopian science-fiction novel, holed up in a cave full of cultural artefacts, waiting for the young Jenny Agutter to arrive in a tinfoil miniskirt, fleeing a poisonous cloud on the surface, to check out my stash and ask me: "Who exactly was the Quicksilver Messenger Service? Who was this Virginia Woolf? What kind of man was Jonah Hex?" - Stewart Lee on comics, books, CDs and shelves. Many, many feet of shelves.

Parental Craparoo

Secret Life of Gravy — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:11:02 -0800

Crap at My Parent's House: Homage to all of the weird crap that everyone's parents have. Via

Phantom Debts, Real Anguish

reenum — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:29:38 -0800

Debt buyers have become a multi-billion dollar industry. They buy old debts and then litigate in an effort to collect with little or no evidence. They use all sorts of chicanery, from false affidavits to the president of one of these companies showing up at a debtor's house, claiming to be a sherriff.

Almost Dickensian

Xurando — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:37:24 -0800

Can't pay your debts in 2010? You may be arrested and thrown into a debtors prison.

Squircles

growabrain — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:24:30 -0800

Mag3737 (Tom Magliery) is a prolific flickr user with over 19,444 items uploaded. He categorized his photographs into sets (right now there are about 350 of them), and into larger collections. See for example, the Squircles (squared circle), the Monochromatic squircles, the Backsides and underthings page, numbers, letters, colors, many more. Since he once heard that there were 37 holes in the mouthpiece of the old-fashion telephone, he used to collect fascinating factoids about the number 37. Numerous other detours inside, Flower genitelia, Paul Bunyan's balls, etc. His old-fashioned website is here.

'Favorite dolls may fade with time - our love for them never will.'

anastasiav — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:31:11 -0800

Doll Kind :: Dolls of the 20th Century - A Celebration in Pictures and Histories

Photo Real

dersins — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:16:54 -0800

The American Image: The Photographs of John Collier Jr. at the University of New Mexico. "In 1941 to 1943, Collier worked as a photographer with the Farm Securities Administration and the Office of War Information under Roy Stryker and documented many areas around the eastern U.S and northern New Mexico." The full photoset is at flickr here.

Mad Props

dersins — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:24:41 -0800

There was a typewriter repairman in North Hollywood, California. He couldn’t believe it when all of a sudden someone deposited 24 vintage typewriters on his doorstep and said, “Make them look new.” He probably hadn’t had that much work in the last 25 years. He was probably just about ready to hang up the “Going out of business” sign and cursing the arrival of the laptop computer when all of a sudden here I come with 24 typewriters. The Collectors Weekly interviews Scott Buckwald, propmaster for Mad Men.

myQSL

dersins — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:19:41 -0800

"QSL cards confirm either a two-way radiocommunication between two amateur radio stations or a one-way reception of a signal from an AM radio, FM radio, television or shortwave broadcasting station. They can also confirm the reception of a two-way radiocommunication by a third party listener. A typical QSL card is the same size and made from the same material as a typical postcard, and most are sent through the mail as such." Here's a substantial collection of them.

Woodward realized that it was only a question of being pestered forever or quietly throwing open his place

jessamyn — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:25:14 -0800

"The What Cheer House catered to men only, permitted no liquor on the premises, and housed San Francisco's first free library and first museum." Opened in 1852 by Robert B. Woodward it became immensely popular. "[S]ailors enjoyed staying there... [he] was such a well-liked man that they would often bring him trinkets from around the world when they’d come to town. For Woodward, these gifts were the beginning of what would become a life-long obsession with collecting." He moved the collection and opened Woodward's Gardens in 1866 between Mission and Valencia at 13th-15th streets. Called the Central Park of the West, it was San Francisco's most famous public resort. - more information, photos and rememberances on this lost landmark - guidebook entry from 1879 describes the gardens - what San Francisco was like in 1856 - SF Chronicle article about the gardens from 1913, photos from the SF Call in 1907 - the origin of the phrase "what cheer" - what's there now

Do Not Disturb. Or Do. Either Way.

dersins — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:51:02 -0800

"When my grandfather passed away last year, my family gathered to go through his belongings. He had been in the foreign service and he had filled a whole wall of his study with hotel door hangers from all his travels throughout the world. They're really beautiful, in aggregate, and I wanted to share. Enjoy."

Аста ла виста, беби

madamjujujive — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:30:31 -0800

Stalin's Secret Weapon - a Russian hobbyist's terminator-esque diorama painstakingly constructed from military action figures. (Via buzz

Captains Courageous

doctoryes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:19:13 -0800

Have you ever wondered what you would look like dressed as a captain in every branch of armed forces of every nation who fought in World War II? This guy did and then recreated it. Buried in the pages of what appears to have started as a resource on Diggers (previously) is this amazing collection. The "Captain" has taken a portrait of himself and photoshopped on uniforms, medals, ribbons, and in some cases facial hair and facepaint. Most entries also include a little personal history of the virtual captain explaining why he's wearing certain things.

"The most interesting thing about a postage stamp is the persistence with which it sticks to its job." - N Hill

anastasiav — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:57:17 -0800

Dan's Topical Stamps