he general acquisition of objects has been a human activity since at least the Bronze Age. As peoples developed knowledge of the items within their culture, a desire to look at, accumulate and preserve them gave rise to “collecting.”
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DEKALB — The general acquisition of objects has been a human activity since at least the Bronze Age. As peoples developed knowledge of the items within their culture, a desire to look at, accumulate and preserve them gave rise to “collecting.”
The “what and why” of collections – both personal and for museums will be explored in Dr. Richard Cooler’s Brown Bag Lunch/Local Lore presentation on Thursday, Aug. 2.
“This natural acquisitiveness led to groupings from bronze weapons to fossils of extinct fauna. Amateurs and professionals alike, imbued by their curiosity, avidly pursued their favorite things,” Cooler explained. “Their caring produced great quantities of material that resulted in the growing number of museums, antique shops, antique malls, and the decade-long popularity of programs such as ‘Antiques Roadshow.’ Objects originally collected by individuals have become the foundation of public museum collections so that the acquisitive interests of the individual and the museum mirror one another.”
