Collecting is in Debbie's blood. Both of her grandmothers collected, and so did her dad. Now her three sons have collections, too.

Debbie has the oldest collection we've encountered. Her maternal grandmother started collecting miniature shoes in 1941. She passed her collection on to Debbie, who collects little shoes to this day. The same grandmother gave Debbie her first Barbie in 1959. Her Barbies are Debbie's favorite of her many collections, and she still loves to dress them up. Debbie's grandmother also made the beautiful wedding dress in the second picture.

        

Jim has been hooked on classic 1950's science fiction since he was a kid. A few years ago he discovered that he could buy posters for his favorite films on Ebay.

Many mouseclicks later, he has around 5,000 posters. Every month, Jim displays different posters from his collection at his donut shop, Rocket Donuts.

        

Matt showed us his collection of airline ticket jackets--the folders that airplane tickets came in. Remember tickets? They were these paper things . . .

He started his collection when he was just six years old and his family got stuck at the airport. He passed the time by picking up discarded ticket jackets that he found. Now he has thousands of them!

Matt's collection fostered a lifelong fascination with geography and travel. He has a web site, www.viatime.org, where kids can create a virtual airline and plot its routes. You can see more of his collection by visiting his virtual ticket museum.

        

Jeff likes to collect things that have to do with vices: cigarettes, booze, gambling. Not sex, though. He explained to the American Collectors crew that "those sorts of things get expensive." 

Jeff has one special collection that he describes as his life's work: a nearly complete deck of cards made up of playing cards he finds on the ground. He's been at it for twenty years and only needs six more cards.

        

These pictures are from our first location shoot. We visited Denise K., who collects Hawaiiana and items related to surfing. We had a great time talking to Denise and checking out her beautiful collection.

Denise grew up in Huntington Beach, California, where her dad was Marketing Director for Laguna Swimwear and initiated the first "Masters" Invitational Surfing tournament. As a result of his efforts, in 1966, the Laguna Masters Invitational became the very first surfing competition ever covered by "ABC's Wide World of Sports." This was a huge milestone in the world of surfing. 



--June

        

Story about "American Collectors" doc in the Bellingham Herald.

        

June Hathaway has just signed on as our production assistant. She will be doing some research on the psychology of collecting and working on the interviews.  Here is her web site:  June Hathaway

        

Hi everyone!

Thought I would give a quick update about our progress. Bob was interviewed about the film in an article that will be in the Bellingham Herald soon! Be sure to check it out!

I am on my way to Portland this weekend to attend the biggest antique show in the Northwest. I'm going  with over 200 flyers and an ad the Portland Expo program guide. I'm looking forward to meeting some collectors and getting lots of contacts for the film. We plan on starting to set up interviews towards the end of March. Will keep you posted!

        

Looking forward to talking to other collectors out there.  I think we will  start interviewing the 3rd week of March.   So feel free to make contact to set up a interview.