Collections

I love to collect things. From sea shells on a beach to business cards of favorite restaurants. I have a variety of active and inactive collections, and am interested to know what other packrats collect.

[Stamp]

Stamps

This is probably my oldest collection (that still exists). I haven't worked on it actively for some time now, but I am still interested, and occasionally buy new issues that strike my fancy. I was able to use my avocation to construct an exhibit for the Health Sciences Library entitled, "The Health Sciences on Stamps" which was on display there January 10-March 13, 1992. The exhibit also traveled to California and was displayed at University of California at San Diego's Biomedical Library, May 1-31, 1992. The majority of the display was made up of my stamps, but three other collectors from the Library also contributed to the display. Gary Bird, Robert Terry, and Steve Squires each loaned a number of stamps to the display.

I mostly collect US stamps, but I have a fair number of British Empire issues, and I usually buy US/foreign joint issues, if they aren't too expensive. I do have an international collection of topicals with a space theme. I also have an almost complete set of full sheets of Christmas Seals since the mid 1970's. They just sort of fit in with the rest of the stamps!

Interesting Links

Books on Philately
Philatelic Computing Study Group
Linn's Stamp News
American Philatelic Society
NetSTAMPS
The Ever-Growing Space Philately Page

Ancestors

Ancestor collecting is really just another term for Genealogy and I have a whole section on that. This is possibly my second oldest collection, and I now have a database of over 3000 ancestors (and cousins and other kin). I am not as active in this as I would like to be, but I have learned of many new cousins by using the Internet, and hope to get back to my research full-time sometime soon. One of my dreams is to become a full-time, professional genealogist, but I'm not sure I could support myself in the style to which I have become accustomed!

Interesting Links

[Business Card]

Business Cards

Collecting business cards started innocently enough. Picking up one or two here and there, at restaurants I liked or from shops with interesting merchandise, from business contacts or vendors, from friends and relatives. There are now over 500 in my collection, not counting duplicates (of which there are very few). They are relatively easy to collect, easy to store, and free for the asking, (especially from retail businesses and sales people!) I have never purchased a business card.

I have them organized (those that are organized) by state, then alphabetically by the name of the company or business, in books made to store such collections. Yes, there is such a thing, although I think it is really intended for business people to use in organizing their contacts.

Interesting Links

The American Business Card Club
All in the Cards
[Old Books]

Old History Books and Old Home Economy Books
(1940 and earlier)

I find these fascinating. They represent a slice of the past that most people miss. The history books reflect society's changing attitude towards people, cultures, and events. Understanding how a society used to think of another culture, or nation, or group of people, helps the historian understand why governments, as well as individuals, behaved as they did under a given circumstance. I do not believe in, or practice revisionist history. Facts are facts and events are as they happened. If you decide to explore this for yourself, be forewarned, language and terminology changes over the years. What was once an acceptable, polite phrase or term might be considered quite offensive by today's standards. Don't blame me for what someone else wrote decades ago.

The home economy books are the best of all. These step by step guidebooks and instruction manuals show us the intimate details of daily life far better than a true "history book" could. What the homemaker had to go through just to get the stove hot enough to make breakfast would be enough to cause most of us today to stay in bed and go hungry.

Interesting Links

[Teapot]

Teapots

I am a tea drinker, not a coffee drinker. (Please do not confuse this with being a "tea-totaler", it is not the same thing at all!) This, along with my love of blue & white china (and collecting, of course) prompted the most recent of my collections. I have seven teapots now, including one that matches the pattern on my blue & white dishes, one that belonged to my mother's mother, and an old Japanese one my mom picked up at an estate sale.

Interesting Links

Typhoo Tea Homepage
Cooking With Tea by Diana Rosen
Teas from Gourmet Trading Company
A Nice Cup of Tea by George Orwell
The Way of Tea

Rubber Stamps

"Rubber stamps?" you say. "Why would anyone collect office supplies?" Well . . . they're not just office supplies anymore! They are an art and a craft. They come in thousands of sizes and shapes, and people use them to create designs on everything from gift wrap to clothing.

However, I will admit that I do have a few rubber stamps of the "office supply" variety. Old address label stamps, stamps we used to use at work for things we no longer do, and ornate antique stamps.

Interesting Links

Stampendous
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Last update 11 November 1997