09-23-2012, 01:15 PM
As with most things in life knowing not only what you have but where it is is crucial. The entire collection is organised away in such a way that they are in the same order as they are listed. I scan and name everything that will fit in the scanner and the posts on this forum are a great example of a photographic record of what there is. Posting items on the forum is not only a help to anyone anywhere who needs assistance but it is also very handy when I'm away and need to refer to something in the collection. I have had many discussions with people which have ended up in me pulling up the forum to use it as a visual reference to the item in discussion. The forum works very well as not only an area to talk about things but also display them to the whole online world.
When I first made a "list" of awards in the collection (in 2007), knowing that things would soon get out of hand, the tally was 104 items. The list now runs to 5275 awards but I have not yet catalogued all of them. Parallel to that I have a very arranged "archive" of the scans with folders for each person inside folders for each nation. The folders are all named in the recipient's native language (and alphabet) with a transliterated name following if needed. This is now being expanded with text documents of translations of citations and the such as well as a text document listing not only every group with every item but biographies of each recipient to the full extent that can be ascertained. This is very much a work in progress which will probably take a few years to complete as there are over 500 names to dig into. I do not yet have a "list" of documents and other paper items apart from the archive of scans but there are thousands of those too.
Collecting as much information as possible and presenting it as simply and organised as possible is certainly going to assist anyone who needs assistance - including myself. This forum is also a great tool for sharing what I find out with as many people as possible.
The "problem" of a constant stream of new items coming into the collection makes it not only an constant task but there is the problem of shuffling everything away correctly and in order. This brings with it a demand on time. I am currently transferring most of the collection into a more uniform NATO issue storage which also brings its own joys and sorrows. This new way of storage should make things easier to put away, easier to find and easier to move. I like to have the collection as ready for transportation as possible at all times so it or parts of it can be where it needs to be as rapidly as possible. Many times I have been contacted by a museum curator only for the items to be in the museum within the hour. Discussions about displays, tours and museums are constantly ongoing and hopefully everything can be enjoyed by as many people as possible. I just look after the items, I don't have dominion over them.
Plans are in place for such actions to continue after I die (which could be any time at all) and hopefully the items now collected together will continue to be added to and enjoyed by as many people as possible. Hopefully nothing in the collection will just rot away in a dark box unenjoyed by anyone which is different to what will be happening to me (unless you count the enjoyment of the bacteria eating my dead flesh?).
For now I can only hope that a single stationary all encompassing display will occur whilst continuing to present items for everyone's enjoyment and education.
I'd also like to point out to everyone that collecting awards, militaria and related items is just one of my many enjoyments in life and I also have collections of other things which also take up considerable amounts of time and effort. These other items are generally less appealing for museum display (12000+ Records/Cds including 3800+ Beatles related which are somewhat catalogued, 130,000+ coins of which over 128,000 are catalogued, a 7 digit figure of stamps which are completely uncatalogued and over a thousand autographs which need to be catalogued). Acquiring new items always takes precedence over cataloguing.
I like a good haggle!
When I first made a "list" of awards in the collection (in 2007), knowing that things would soon get out of hand, the tally was 104 items. The list now runs to 5275 awards but I have not yet catalogued all of them. Parallel to that I have a very arranged "archive" of the scans with folders for each person inside folders for each nation. The folders are all named in the recipient's native language (and alphabet) with a transliterated name following if needed. This is now being expanded with text documents of translations of citations and the such as well as a text document listing not only every group with every item but biographies of each recipient to the full extent that can be ascertained. This is very much a work in progress which will probably take a few years to complete as there are over 500 names to dig into. I do not yet have a "list" of documents and other paper items apart from the archive of scans but there are thousands of those too.
Collecting as much information as possible and presenting it as simply and organised as possible is certainly going to assist anyone who needs assistance - including myself. This forum is also a great tool for sharing what I find out with as many people as possible.
The "problem" of a constant stream of new items coming into the collection makes it not only an constant task but there is the problem of shuffling everything away correctly and in order. This brings with it a demand on time. I am currently transferring most of the collection into a more uniform NATO issue storage which also brings its own joys and sorrows. This new way of storage should make things easier to put away, easier to find and easier to move. I like to have the collection as ready for transportation as possible at all times so it or parts of it can be where it needs to be as rapidly as possible. Many times I have been contacted by a museum curator only for the items to be in the museum within the hour. Discussions about displays, tours and museums are constantly ongoing and hopefully everything can be enjoyed by as many people as possible. I just look after the items, I don't have dominion over them.
Plans are in place for such actions to continue after I die (which could be any time at all) and hopefully the items now collected together will continue to be added to and enjoyed by as many people as possible. Hopefully nothing in the collection will just rot away in a dark box unenjoyed by anyone which is different to what will be happening to me (unless you count the enjoyment of the bacteria eating my dead flesh?).
For now I can only hope that a single stationary all encompassing display will occur whilst continuing to present items for everyone's enjoyment and education.
I'd also like to point out to everyone that collecting awards, militaria and related items is just one of my many enjoyments in life and I also have collections of other things which also take up considerable amounts of time and effort. These other items are generally less appealing for museum display (12000+ Records/Cds including 3800+ Beatles related which are somewhat catalogued, 130,000+ coins of which over 128,000 are catalogued, a 7 digit figure of stamps which are completely uncatalogued and over a thousand autographs which need to be catalogued). Acquiring new items always takes precedence over cataloguing.
I like a good haggle!
"Signed with his own rubber stamp"
