Friday, November 26, 2010

I Have to Tell You . . .

By Pauline Masson

What is the difference between collecting and hoarding?

There's a lively discussion on the Internet right now on the subject as all the reality television shows draw embarrassing attention to people who accumulate so much material that it overflows into the sight of the neighbors and someone raises an alarm.

he difference, one Web site says, is this. While hoarders may want to be left alone, collectors are often eager to carry on a lively discussion of the items they have accumulated.

I get that. And here's a good example.

I met a collector of the first water a couple of weeks ago. He said some people call him a hoarder and I could see why. His collection is a dusty, unorganized hodgepodge of books, framed pictures, papers, furniture, carvings, light standards, and signs that fill the cavernous high-ceilinged storage room of Slater, Mo., city hall and encroach into the foyer and the office of the collector.

"People bring me this stuff," Russell "Gene" Griffith, city clerk and assistant city manager, said. "They know I'll take anything."..." More


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