Motivational Monday - Understanding a Collection

Created by Julie Goucher  Jan 2015 using Wordle

There comes a point when you have collected enough of your chosen entity that you have a collection and at some point there are decisions to be made about it.

According to Christopher Bart in "Industrial firms and the power of mission" Industrial Marketing Management 26 (4) pp 371 - 383 there are three key elements.

1. Key Market - Who is the chosen item aimed at?
2. Contribution - What does the chose item provide to the wider audience?
3. Distinction - What makes the chosen item unique over others?

These three elements do not exactly fit a collection, but they go some way to present a suitable structure of key indicators.

In my experience as a family and local historian a collection forms as a natural stage of research. I do not believe that any of us make a conscious decision to collect every postcard of X, every piece of pottery made by X or every occurrence of a name in a location or of every instance of every name in a location. A collection quite simply happens, a result of a catalyst.

In which case why did it happen and how are you going to deal with it in the future?

Create a mission / purpose statement with the following:

• How did the collection come to be created and by whom?
• Who is it created for? and has that changed?
• How will it be maintained or grow?
• How will it be accessed by others?
• Does it need to be?
• How will you advertise your collection?
• How do you ensure the longevity of your collection?
• How is the collection kept?
• How will you ensure copyright and ownership issues are protected and addressed?
• Do others have any investment in the collection? (investment does not necessarily mean financial)
• Is the collection unique?

Do you have a collection (or perhaps two or three!)? I will be sharing some of my collections over the coming week or so