Activity: What do you collect?
Photo: Tudor Nights: Stepping Out in Style, October 17 2019
At Tudor Place, we tell the stories of the Peter family and of the people they enslaved and employed. One way we tell this story is through sharing the objects the Peter family owned.
The collections manager and curator at Tudor Place are two people who help to share these stories while keeping historic objects safe. The collections manager keeps track of all the objects in the Tudor Place collection and makes sure they are stored and displayed in ways that preserve and maintain them. The curator researches objects and arranges them in special ways that help visitors experience and learn from them.
Just like Tudor Place tells the story of the Peter family using their collection of objects, you can tell the story of your family with objects of your own. Everyone collects things – you might have a collection of games, puzzles or books. Sometimes people plan out their collections very carefully, and sometimes they happen accidentally. Tudor Place has a collection of over 18,000 objects that the Peter family owned, including furniture, clothing, art, jewelry, plates and silverware. Your collection is probably a little bit smaller.
Tudor Place staff have their own personal collections too!
Katie collects mugs. If she displayed her mugs in an exhibit, they would tell visitors all about the places she has travelled:
Katie’s mug collection
Helen collects earrings. Helen’s earrings tell a story about her colorful fashion sense:
Helen’s earrings collection
Now it’s your turn to be the curator. Take a few minutes to think about your own collections. Answer the questions below once you have:
What do you collect?
If you put your collection together into an exhibit, what stories could you tell?
What could a curator 200 years in the future learn from your collection? What or stories might they be able to tell about you?
