Collection thinking : within and without libraries, archives, and museums / edited by Jason Camlot, Martha Langford, Linda M. Morra.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Camlot, Jason, 1967- editor.

Langford, Martha, editor.

Morra, Linda M., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Collectors and collecting.

Collection management (Libraries).

Archives--Collection management.

Archives.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 342 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York, New York : Routledge, [2023]

Summary:

"Collection Thinking is a volume of essays that thinks across and beyond critical frameworks from library, archival, and museum studies to understand the meaning of "collection" as an entity and as an act. It offers new models for understanding how collections have been imagined and defined, assembled, created, and used as cultural phenomena. Featuring over fifty illustrations and twenty-three original chapters that explore cases from a wide range of fields, including library and archival studies, literary studies, art history, media studies, sound studies, folklore studies, game studies, and education, Collection Thinking builds on the important scholarly works produced on the topic of the archive over the past two decades and contributes to ongoing debates on the historical status of memory institutions. The volume illustrates how the concept of "collection" bridges these institutional and structural categories, and generates discussions of cultural activities involving artifactual arrangement, preservation, curation, and circulation in both the private and the public spheres. Edited collaboratively by three senior scholars with expertise in the fields of literature, art history, archives, and museums, Collection Thinking is designed to stimulate interdisciplinary reflection and conversation. This book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners interested in how we organize materials for research across disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. With case studies that range from collecting Barbie dolls to medieval embroideries, and with contributions from practitioners on record collecting, the creation of sub-culture archives, and collection as artistic practice, this volume will appeal to anyone who has ever wondered about why and how collections are made"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Contributors

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction: Collection Thinking

Using

Moving

Holding

Structure and Contents of This Collection

Notes

Bibliography

Part 1: Ontology

Chapter 1: Ontology

Chapter 2: Incautious Stewardship of Library Collections: Creating Collections Where They Don't Exist, Losing Collections Where They Do

Definitions: What Is a Library Collection?

Literature Review

Illustrative Case Studies on Collections and Contextual Information

The Case of Harold William Vazeille Temperley

The Case of the French Play Collection (Unbound)

The Case of the A.G. Parker Cinema Collection

The Case of George Cukor's Books

Conclusion

Chapter 3: Indexing Intimacies: The Affective Collections of André Breton and Samuel M. Steward

Indexical Objects

Ritual Road Signs

Chapter 4: Collecting Children in Coraline and Harry Potter

Adults as Collectors

Children as Collectors

Chapter 5: Edible Enigmas: Food Riddles and Enigmatical Bills of Fare

Private Riddle Collections

Public Riddle Collections

How Were Riddle Collections Shared?

Riddle Collections as Shared Terrain for Librarians and Scholars

New Channels for Riddle Collecting and Riddle Collections Outreach

Conclusion: The Future of Shared Collections

Chapter 6: A Variantology of Research Collections: The Residual Media Depot

What Is Variantology?

The Problem

Variantologies

Shallow Media Temporalities

Bigger Problems

Notes toward a Method

Techniques

Documentation

Disassembly and Reassembly

Soldering and Desoldering.

Testing and Benchmarking

Assessment, Writeup, Research Communication

Aside: Expert Discourse

Initial Case Study Notes: The Super Famicom

Initial Conclusions and Working Hypotheses

Chapter 7: Situationist Stuff: Collection as Explanatory Accumulation

Part 2: Agency

Chapter 8: Agency

Chapter 9: Audible Collections: What Remains of Voices on the Radio

An Audible Collection

Anthology as an Audible Collection

Inaudible Remains

Dissembling Remains

Chapter 10: Collection as Biography: The Pierre and Annie Cantin Collection

Brief History of a Collection

Collectors' Network

The "biography of things"

Objects, People, Stories

Chapter 11: "The Relics … What Are They?": Locating Florence Nightingale in Her Childhood Library

Chapter 12: Creating, Collecting, and Curating: Mothers Pass Down Barbie Traditions

Creating Barbie

Collecting Barbie

Curating Barbie

Conclusions

Chapter 13: Collecting Copies: The Fabiola Project by Francis Alÿs

Chapter 14: Audio Aficionados: The School of Collecting Very Old Sound Recordings

Part 3: Community

Chapter 15: Community

Chapter 16: Made to Move: Convent Embroidery Collections and Communities of Care

Communal Use, Communal Care-The Society of St. Margaret

Collective Stewardship-Toward an Ethics of Care

Chapter 17: Collect Them All (Again): Digital Collection as Nostalgic Incentive in Fire Emblem Heroes

The Question of Ownership: Gacha Games as Digital Ephemera

The Mechanics of Collection: Nostalgia and the Collector's Self.

Collecting Meaning: Online Communities and Social Sharing

Chapter 18: Off the Grid: Exploring the Human Networks in Underground Art Making and Collection Building

Classification of the Artexte Collection and Special Collections

Projet Mobilivre-Bookmobile Project Collection

The Réjean F. Côté Mail Art Collection

Community and Network in Collecting Practices

Representing the Context of Creation: Toward an Extended Network

Reactivation of Collections

Chapter 19: Finding Fireweed : Magazine Metadata as Archive of Feminist Movement

Magazine as Collection

Collecting Data

Chapter 20: The People and the Text: An Inclusive Collection

First Barrier: The Devaluing of Indigenous Texts

Second Barrier: Library Cataloging Systems

Third Barrier: Libraries That Exclude Multimodal Storytelling

Fourth Barrier: The Failure to Accommodate Indigenous Protocols

Chapter 21: Raging: Revisiting Raging Dyke Network

Conclusion, or How to Use This Book Now That You Have Read It

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-00-328230-X

1-003-28230-X

1-000-62569-9

9781003282303 (electronic book)

9781003282303

OCLC:

1337144849