Why do you collect?

Americans devote vast amounts of money, time, and closet space to their collections. Studies show that 30% of the population of the United States collects something. American Collectors is a documentary that explores why people collect and the impact that collecting has on their everyday lives. American Collectors takes an in depth look at the psychology of collecting. In this film we meet 15 very different people with wide and varied interests. They all share a common bond, the activity of collecting. Within these interviews, we get a very personal and intimate look at collectors and their relationships with these objects of desire.

The idea of this film began many years ago when I was on a cross country road trip staying at a tiny campground somewhere in the vast Midwest. The proprietor of the campground mini mart said, ""Oh so you like antiques, do you want to see my collection of irons? " I was intrigued enough to say yes and followed him to a building next to the store. As I walked over to the pole building I was thinking of the many ways that I could politely bow out if the collection was boring. How interesting are irons anyway? Inside the building was a veritable museum of the past 300 years of development of domestic technology. I spent the most fascinating hour learning about irons and how people took care of clothing. I marveled at the skill it took to make those incredible Elizabethan pleats. His passion and enthusiasm for this symbol of domestic drudgery was contagious and the time flew by! I began to think, if this amazing collection is here in this most unlikely place, what else do people have tucked away under their beds and in their back rooms and how can I get to see them? Years later, Bob Ridgley and I decided to pursue this idea for a film. Our questions were, what is it about some people that they accumulate such large collections of things? How are they different from the rest of us? Are we as Americans with our wealth of space more inclined to accumulate so much stuff?