The Collector's Voice

by Susan M. Pearce (Editor), Paul Martin (Editor), Alexandra Bournia (Editor)

The Collector's Voice is a major four-volume project which brings together in accessible form material relevant to the history and practice of collecting in the European tradition from c. 1500 BC to the present day. The series demonstrates how attitudes to objects, the collecting of objects, and the shape of the museum institution have developed over the past 3000 years. Material presented includes translations of a wide range of original documents: letters, official reports, verse, fiction, travellers' accounts, catalogues and labels.
* Volume 1: Ancient Voices, edited by Susan Pearce and Alexandra Bounia
* Volume 2: Early Voices, edited by Susan Pearce and Kenneth Arnold
* Volume 3: Modern Voices, edited by Susan Pearce and Rosemary Flanders
* Volume 4: Contemporary Voices, edited by Susan Pearce and Paul Martin

Author Biography: Susan Pearce, Professor, Dean of Faculty of Arts, University of Leicester and Paul Martin, Lecturer in History, Ruskin College, Oxford, UK.

348 pages, Hardcover

Published December 28, 2000

About the author

Susan M. Pearce is Professor Emeritus of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. Her research interests have always concentrated on Material Culture, particularly human relationships with the artefact world and the nature and process of collecting. She studied history and archaeology at Oxford University and then worked on the curatorial staff at the National Museums on Merseyside and Exeter City Museum. She joined the Department in 1984 and was appointed Director in 1989, Professor of Museum Studies in 1992, Dean of the Arts Faculty in 1996 and Pro-vice chancellor in 2000. Susan M. Pearce was also President of the Museums Association 1992-1994.

Reviews

[A Mig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disappointing. I was looking for a monograph on the collecting process of the late 20th century, but what I got is an anthology of short collector stories, without any depth and very heterogeneous. A good list showing the diversity of collecting themes in the age of mass consumption but the description of each section is too minimalist. And also, not one illustration except for the cover pic.