Years ago, I remember hearing something on TV about an island being invaded — to my bedroom I went, and found the Falkland Islands on my wall-map. I lived on a small farm in west central Minnesota, and while the horizon was flat as the ocean, I wasn’t a very worldly guy — until National Geographic arrived with its regular insert of a map. I didn’t just have a world globe in my room…I also had a globe of the moon. When we did go to town, there was a free magazine available at stores and restaurants, a guide for tourists of places to see in Fargo. Spanning the center-fold was a stylish map of Fargo, missing a huge number of things but focusing on retail, emergency, and travel-related parts of town. That map entertained me on a regular basis — here’s a copy:

I’ve always liked maps. They’re a way to look at a place as a whole, checking out how the buildings and locations relate to each other. You may find things you didn’t know before, like the creek shown on an 1890s map of Fargo that isn’t there anymore (but lines up with that weird gap in housing construction). If you’re really imaginative, you can see all kinds of things in a map, depending on how suspicious you are. Maps aren’t just about streets and directions — old maps are a way of documenting history. Of the five Ws — who, what, when, where, and why — an old map describes Where better than any paragraph in a history book can. I used to own (and somehow lost) a map of Fargo from the fifties that listed my favorite park as the County Poor Farm. Streets I rode my bike on either didn’t exist or were numbered county roads. I have a bunch of Midwest highway maps dating back to the fifties, that when overlaid in order show the progress from the old highway system to the interstate system, slowly bypassing towns and connecting others. Today’s maps emphasize different places, making old maps quite different, depending on what you’re looking at:

If you’ve ever been to a battlefield museum, you’ve seen a map that shows When and Why. Kids books, patient with the benefit of showing rather than telling, use maps to great benefit in demonstrating regions and customs, like this map of wildlife habitats that’s pleasantly short on text, but gets enormous amounts of information across:

While I’ve got lots of maps — survey maps, tourist maps, maritime maps, maps large and small — I admit I haven’t taken very good care of them. Maps are best stored in flat-drawers, the kind also used for blueprints and newspaper collections. A newspaper analogy is a good one, because maps often come originally folded, may be printed on both sides, and are on a large single sheet of paper. Maps are often printed on nicer paper than newspapers, but unless printed recently the paper cannot be assumed acid-free, and some of the most interesting maps, like this one of Chicago in the 19th century, was printed cheaply on newsprint and wasn’t intended to survive past the World’s Fair:

Stored large-format paper should be protected and separated from the acids in nearby paper, as well as from moisture and bugs and mice. If your maps should be displayed, treat them with the respect you’d give any old large print — a poster frame from Wal-Mart won’t cut it. Mount it with acid-free paper, use UV glass, and if due to size you’re unsure about the quality of your work, trust a professional with the job. Maps can be found in many, many places, depending on your pleasure: your grocery store hands out maps when they rearrange aisles, a coworker may draw a map to their house on a party invitation, your town may hand them out at the Chamber of Commerce, or your kids may be free-drawing them in school. They appeared in books of all kinds, they were on the backs of tourism brochures, and gas stations are overflowing with them. Don’t desecrate a book unless you’re certain it’s worth it, but always check books for interesting maps. Trust me, they’re there.
Since maps are all over the place, there’s plenty of collectors around. If you’re looking for more on collecting maps, here’s some places to go:

• The Map Room: A Blog About Maps
• Strange Maps: the odd and interesting
• Care and handling of old maps
• Map care from vintagemaps.com
• Road Map Collector’s Association
• International Antiquarian Mapdealers Association,
• And, lastly maphistory.info, who has a large resource section.
  

As we’ve mentioned before, the Wifey and I read by osmosis. Oh, we do read the traditional way, but owning is that first step to actually acquiring the knowledge bound within the pages on our shelves. Organized? Of course not. Here’s how we started: Wifey’s books on one set of shelves, mine on another. Then a couple bookshelves were added, and books were taken out of storage. Then we bought more books. Then we added shelves. Then we rearranged the rooms. Then we added shelves…et cetera, and so forth, and etcetera forth. There IS a rough organization, where general subjects — feminism, sci-fi, business, graphic design — are clumped together, but I couldn’t tell you what we’ve got or where it’s at.

In fact, we recently attended a book sale, a time when knowing what’s already on our shelves would be an asset. See, as frugal shoppers we went on the last day, during the last advertised hour or so. The big local used-book-sellers were lined around the edge, waiting for the quiet signal: after 2:30, the per-book-sale became a bag-sale. The resellers were waiting like vultures for the final gasp of breath, waiting for the last of the readers to pass by the books that final time, so they could swoop in and take the rest away at pennies a copy. Of course, everybody gets grabby pretty quick — so, if we knew what we’d already owned, we wouldn’t have wasted time on yet another copy of Dick Gregory’s From The Back Of The Bus or a James Blish’s Star Trek adaptation that’s not one of the ones I’m missing. Sure, when it works out to two cents a book, it’s not a horrible loss — but where in the world will we put them?

Last year, someone with a similar problem turned to the geek world for help: he asked Slashdot how to best organize and sort his and his wife’s personal library. Once you get past the snark and humor (telling which is which is tough), there’s quite a few good suggestions. The amateur librarian took the best solutions he was given, and applied it to his library. His rules for the home library are as follows:

1. It needs to be easy to find a book.
2. It needs to be easy to add a book to the system.
3. The systems needs to handle foreign language books.
4. It needs to be easy to maintain the system going forward.
5. The initial cataloging effort can’t take forever.

Ah, if only I could have such high goals! While I’m not Collectors’ Quest’s resident library-expert, it seems that taking cues from modern libraries is the key: use barcodes, organize by tried-and-true structures (the guy above used the Library of Congress’ method), and stick with whatever you decide to do. It sounds like the library-questing guy and his wife are primarily non-fiction-readers, which lends well to the LOC method of organization; Dewey Decimal might be best for fiction lovers, or maybe take notes on how Barnes & Noble does their shelving. If you’re a collector of old books, you may be out of luck when it comes to using ISBNs and barcodes to speed along your cataloging. Using software to catalog the books, of course, only matters if you can shelve them in a findable way — invest in good shelves, lest you start stacking and double-rowing your books like we have. Still, the 5 Rules do not rely on ISBNs, Libraries of Congresses, computers, or zebra stripes — it’s a matter of willpower.

Ah, willpower. How much smaller would our collection of books be if we had some willpower? There’s a Catch-22 in that — if we had the willpower to organize, we’d have the willpower to resist buying so many books and have less of a critical need for library organization. Whether or not we own a copy of Catch 22, I couldn’t tell you. Wifey thinks we own somewhere between zero and ten copies, which is a reasonable estimate; one of these days we’ll narrow it down a bit, when we get to cataloging our library.

Buying gifts for the collectors in your life can be a difficult thing. Along with all the usual gift selection issues, it’s hard to know what they already have and/or if an item’s conditions will meet the collector’s standards. What can you do?

Here are 13 gift ideas for collectors of all types of things — at all price levels.

#1 Collecting Books & Guides: The wide array of titles from Schiffer Books means there is likely something to appeal to most any collector. From Antique Dresser Sets to My Pretty Pony, from Canes & Walking Sticks to Josef Originals — even Civil War Tour books, Schiffer’s got a wide selection. Not only that, but new editions may mean these are guides your collector doesn’t already have.

Currently Schiffer is offering a special: Any US customers who purchase any three titles from their website get 20% off their entire order. (Should you be really confused about exactly which war it us Uncle Bob collects memorabilia from, there are also gift certificates.)

#2 Cleaning Tools & Storage Supplies: Each type of collection requires special care and that means special tools. Sure, you know all about Polyethylene & Polypropylene sleeves and archival supplies for comic books, magazines, trading cards, postcards, other ephemera, and coins, but there’s so much more.

Perhaps your antique textile or furniture collector could use a proper screen &/or vacuum for taking care of their fancy antiquities. Or maybe your bibliophile needs repair tools and supplies. Oddiophiles Audiophiles need vinyl cleaning solutions, phonograph needles and turntable belts. Virtually any collection can use items for proper display. Maybe your collector just needs more shelving. Whatever it is, large or small, collectors appreciate these gifts.

They may not seem exciting to you, but they are. Where you see plastic bags & boxes or ‘just cleaning supplies’, a collector sees a safer, more cared for collection — and the extra money in her pocket means she can bid a little higher on something at auction.

#3 Pocket Tape Measures: Why give just any tape measure when you can give one of these beauties from Kyle Designs? Not only pretty to look at, but practical for measuring furniture, hardware, and even the size of your car doors as well.

#4 Black Light Keychain: Make it easier for your collector to make the right decision with this take-it-everywhere Ultra-violet Mini Light.

#5 Magnifying Glass or Jeweler’s Loupe: Otherwise known as ‘the loop’, the small portable (and discrete) magnifying tool allows for collectors to better inspect items for everything from maker marks & signatures to flaws & repairs. A collector can never have too many jeweler’s loupes.

#6 Calendars: Each month brings a new item to covet with collectible themed calendars.

#7 Digital Cameras: It’s not just that collectors need want to show their junk off (like here), or maybe sell it online, but they do need to record their collection for insurance purposes too.

#8 Kitchen Goodies: Everyone thinks of vintage textiles and linens — and they are fine ideas too — but there’s so much more. For pop art lovers there are Pop Art Cappuccino Cups, for kitsch lovers these Paint by Numbers Coasters, for Coke collectors, oven mitts, and for fashionistas, coasters featuring vintage sewing pattern illustrations. (Don’t forget Cafe Press for nearly any theme, anything, on a mug.)

#9 Gift Certificates: Yeah, eBay’s got gift certificates, but you know the expression, “Think global, act local,” so get your collector gift certificates from their local antique mall or thrift shop. They will be happily received and greedily used!

#10 Collection Software: You need a gift idea; they need something to do during the long winter (non-buying) months. There are many sorts of collection programs & databases, which can help with insurance issues, pricing, &/or general organization. Check Visual PackRat and Primasoft for some ideas, and Trussel for book software or do an online search.

#11 A Wallet: Even chicks dig groovy wallets. Tucking them in a pocket is much easier than carrying a purse or shoulder bag & squeezing through the flea market throng.

#12 Seeds: Sounds crazy, especially this time of year, but seeds make excellent gifts for collectors. Not just plant collectors love ‘em, but anyone who loves vintage living does, and of course the vintage crate collectors & anthropomophic veggie folks do too. Rare strains & organic seeds sell out quickly — I always forget to order my Moon & Stars Watermelon seeds early and end up saying, “Next year…” And there’s a Seed Savers Membership for the really big gardening guru (or wanna be, like me).

#13 Folding Shopping Carts: Metal or canvas, these portable carts are great for collectors who haunt block rummage sales, auctions, and flea markets. Can’t tell you the number of times we’ve whined as we’ve had to carry all our goodies in our arms — or drawn straws to see who will schlep bags & boxes to the van while the other one gets to continue the buying fun.

I suspect many marriages and relationships could be saved if only a folding cart was in the trunk.

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Prior to the digital age, for pretty much every photograph printed, somewhere there’s a negative. Whether it’s your childhood photos or something produced by a Brownie in the forties, there was once a negative produced. On the other hand, the alternative to a movie camera on many a boring family vacation were slides — which consist of the developed positive film mounted in a little frame. In both cases, the fragile and tiny images are not particularly displayable without putting the originals at risk of damage, but they still represent the first-generation image, right off the camera.

Photography fans with a stash of negatives and slides used to rely on the skills of a talented photo-developing lab to produce prints and copies of their collection, potentially handing off some irreplacable images to someone who doesn’t understand the care required to ensure the aging images survive. Today, however, a regular PC and a cheap but specialized scanner can make digital copies of transparent negatives — which can be burned to CD and taken to anyplace that can do digital prints.

Prices have dropped to where a consumer-grade scanner capable of doing negatives can be had for around $100, but people’s accessibility to negative scanners have been limited in the past. Negative scanners were once quite expensive, and some would only accept one size of film — and people often didn’t know that many consumer-grade scanners actually have add-ons for scanning film. The key to scanning a semi-transparent medium, like a negative or slide, is ‘transmissive’ scanning. The usual method of scanning is like a photocopier, where the sensor that scans the page and the light source are on the same side — or ‘reflective’ scanning. The glossy coating of a negative makes ‘reflective’ scanning akin to flash photography in a mirror — lots of light, little image. ‘Transmissive’ has the light source behind the object to be scanned, like a movie projector, so the imaging sensor sees the image on the film, and not the film itself.

Many scanners have options for transmissive scanning, ranging from a small add-on that plugs in to the scanner and rests on the glass, to replacement covers for flatbed scanners. My scanner, a UMax Astra 4450 originally bought for scanning slide film, was specially designed with a transmissive light source built into the cover. It doesn’t span the entire scanning surface, so it comes with a template to help line up the negative. The 4×6 source in the scanner is large enough for all but the larger of glass negatives.

Having the light source on the back means that nearly any semi-transparent image can be scanned — glass negative plates, movie film, slides, large-format negatives. Anything that can fit in the scanner’s tramissive area will work.

Because of the wide variety of media, a little experimentation is needed to make sure it works. If you have any familiarity with developing black-and-white photos, using a transmissive scanner is the digital version of using an enlarger…and that always required a little trial-and-error to fine tune exposure and quality.

Much like an enlarger, you’ll need to do some calculation to get your image’s size correct. A scanner’s DPI, or ‘dots-per-inch,’ is a measure of image quality: the more ‘dots’ per inch, the better the print will be. For example, my 4 megapixel camera produces an approximately 400 DPI 4×6 photo. If I were to put a 4×6 photo on my scanner, and set it for 400 DPI, the scan should be of similar size and quality to my digital camera. However, do not forget that a negative is far smaller than the photo, while the scanner’s DPI is a measure of what’s actually being scanned on the glass. A 35mm frame is a little under an inch-and-a-half across, or 1/4 the width of a 4×6 photo. To produce a digital image of similar quality to a 4MP digital camera, the negative will have to be scanned at 4 x 400dpi, or 1600dpi. If you were to scan at 400dpi, you’d get a 400×600 image, which is far too grainy for anything but emailing or posting in a webpage. Scanning a 35mm frame at 600dpi or 800dpi should be the minimum level of quality to get a reasonable photo print, and most consumer-level scanners can do this or better. Don’t think that Photoshop can work magic: if the scanner was set at too low of quality, increasing the image’s size in Photoshop only makes the graininess bigger.

My examples are negatives from the 1930s in two sizes: 3-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ and 2-3/4″ x 1-3/4″. I’m scanning both at 600dpi, which should produce a relatively high quality scan, given the age and quality of the negatives. The negative is placed on the scanner flatbed, in the region of the template, the cover is closed, and the ‘transmissive-negative’ option is selected. When the scanner passes across the negative, taking in the light that passes through the negative, the software will invert the brightness, producing a positive image. If I were to scan a color slide — which is not negative — my scanner has the option to just scan, without inverting. Once I have the image in Photoshop, I can adjust and fine tune the levels and contrast to my tastes, and then save it. After I have my settings figured out to produce a good image, the process becomes quicker. Because I do the converting in the comfort of my home, the negatives are ar far less risk for damage or loss, compared to delivering them to a photo studio for enlarging.

Once you have the image scanned, the negatives can be returned to their acid-free, cool, dry storage, and you’re left with a high-quality digital version. Burn it to a CD, and even Wal-Mart can print them for you on high-quality photo paper. Upload them to Flickr and show off your collection. If your photos are family or historic, use them in a website devoted to the photo’s subject. These negatives and slides, once hidden away for their own safety, can now be reproduced and shared without putting them at significant risk of damage.

Short notes:

• Transparent images are scanned using a ‘transmissive’ technique, with the light behind the image. Scanners can be purchased with it built-in, or added as an option, depending on the manufacturer.
• DPI applies to the scanner’s surface, not the actual image. Calculate the quality of the print you’d like to make, and set the scanner appropriate for the negative’s size.
• Like hand-enlarged photos of old, some experimentation may be needed to get proper exposure, contrast, and color.
• With a little work, those negatives and slides can be shared without putting the originals at risk.

Perhaps you resist the notion that as a collector you have your own museum. Maybe you (still) imagine that a museum must be significantly historical or be meaningful to society at large. But let me tell you, if other folks believed that their collection had no value, then we would be without the the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia, the Museum of Bad Art, the Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum, and the Lunchbox Museum. (The latter is recognized by the Smithsonian, yet!) Yet these and many other ’strange little museums’ have hundreds of visitors (or more) each year. Even if the number of visitors who would make a pilgrimage &/or pay to see your collection is a very small one, your collection does have merit and meaning.

Do you still think your collection is undesirable and uninteresting? Then ask yourself this: Do you have people bidding against you at auctions?

Yeah, I thought so. *wink*

See, your collection is interesting. You have a collection, you have a museum; that’s pretty clear-cut to me.

As with any museum, there is a curator: You. You are responsible for shaping and preserving the collection.

You may not have thought of yourself as a curator before, so let’s look at what one is.

The U.S. Department of Labor says, “Curators direct the acquisition, storage, and exhibition of collections, including negotiating and authorizing the purchase, sale, exchange, or loan of collections. They are also responsible for authenticating, evaluating, and categorizing the specimens in a collection. Curators oversee and help conduct the institution’s research projects and related educational programs. Today, an increasing part of a curator’s duties involves fundraising and promotion, which may include the writing and reviewing of grant proposals, journal articles, and publicity materials, as well as attendance at meetings, conventions, and civic events.”

This boils down to three rather natural steps for most collectors.

Step One: Acquisition
This is rather simple; it’s the collecting part. In the process of adding pieces to your collection you automatically authenticate and evaluate items to see what pieces are worth your investment. Like any museum, you have a budget which prevents you from having it all. Sometimes you get lucky; you can afford it, so you buy it. Sometimes though, you want it, want it bad, but it’s too expensive. So then you have to save funds as you watch and wait for another like it — or you may may get more creative. You might arrange a trade for other items in your collection, take out a loan (even if it is just from your spouse), or make payments over time. ‘Real museums’ do this too, only they call it negotiating an exchange, finding a benefactor, or fundraising.

Step Two: Storage and Display
Like any other museum curator you worry about how to best show off your collection. Not only should the items be shown to their best advantage, but done so in a way which does not harm them. Depending upon your particular collection this may be as simple as keeping them out of reach of small children or as challenging as shielding the items from the environment at large. Protecting items may mean higher shelves; protective cases, sleeves, or framing; or even storing them out of sight so that they live to see another decade. Sometimes even the best curators at the largest museums will have to pass on a piece simply because they do not have the room or the ability to properly store the item.

Step Three: Exhibition and Education
The more committed you are to your collection, the more knowledge you gain. The more passionate you are about your collection, the more you want to share both your knowledge and your collection. Through this you become an expert. You don’t have to be collecting something for 25 years in order to be an expert. Maybe your collection is a very unique set of items. (It need not be due to the rarity of the items themselves, but in their context to one another.) Or maybe your collection is so specific & limited that it requires you to be an expert in some small niche area. But one way or another, collecting eventually leads to the collector, the curator, becoming an expert.

As an expert you may be asked to share your collection in a more public venue. It may be a casual exhibit at a Scout meeting or local library, or a more prestigious event at an art gallery or state historical society. Now you are “loaning your acquisitions.” It might be that you are asked to write a paper for your collecting newsletter, share photos of your collection in an author’s book, speak at a local collectibles show, or help evaluate items in an estate. Now you are a curator “promoting” the collection.

Of course, being out in the public means you are also more visible to others, making acquisitions even easier. And the circle continues…

See? You’ve been acting as a curator of your own museum for quite some time now.