An important part of the act of collecting is the psychology behind it. Collectors can range from part-time hobbyists to influential buyers that have a hold over the art market and what trends. Many psychologists have written on the subject and a running theme is that collecting can be a way to cope with and control feelings of loss and a way to make sense of the world by making order from it. For now I shall focus on the theories of Sigmund Freud as he was a collector himself of ancient artefacts, which he displayed in his office and shared with his patients. He had a number of ideas about collecting and what basic fundamental drives lie behind the need for some people to collect items. Some of these theories are typical of a lot of his psychoanalysis and based around the erogenous zones and analogies about human faeces; and like much of his psychoanalysis it does not hold favour with the wider field of psychology and is largely disregarded. So for these purposes the focus will be on his metaphor between archaeology and psychoanalysis. His idea was that objects from the past, like memories, both reveal and conceal traces of a past that have become unconscious. Like archaeology, psychoanalysis dealt with uncovering the past, with fragments, and with interpretation or reconstruction. This is what collectors of historical objects do when they bring items together and form connections between them and a wider cultural history.
Regardless of the collectors focus and choice of items it seems that the act of collecting is an endless task that will never be complete. It would be impossible, for example, to single-handedly collect all existing postcards of Southampton. Or in the case of collecting limited items from a series it is never enough to own one series; another fascination will come along to carry on the need to collect.
As I started buying postcards and creating my own collection I found myself taking on characteristics of a real collector. The frequency of my purchases increased and so did the amount I spent on each card. I began regarding certain cards more important to obtain than others. My role hand changed from an outside analysing the psychology and process of collecting to becoming one myself and taking on the spirit, enthusiasm and sometimes obsessive characteristics of a collector.
Regardless of the collectors focus and choice of items it seems that the act of collecting is an endless task that will never be complete. It would be impossible, for example, to single-handedly collect all existing postcards of Southampton. Or in the case of collecting limited items from a series it is never enough to own one series; another fascination will come along to carry on the need to collect.
As I started buying postcards and creating my own collection I found myself taking on characteristics of a real collector. The frequency of my purchases increased and so did the amount I spent on each card. I began regarding certain cards more important to obtain than others. My role hand changed from an outside analysing the psychology and process of collecting to becoming one myself and taking on the spirit, enthusiasm and sometimes obsessive characteristics of a collector.
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