Thumbnail for episode 2 of the Bright Archives podcast with a portrait of guest Fred Lonberg-Holm.

Fred Lonberg-Holm Talks About Tiny Collections

For the first episode of Collectors Edition, we talk with Fred Lonberg-Holm. You may know Fred from his work as a musician, predominantly a cellist, composer, and improviser. He has led bands like the Valentine Trio, Terminal Four, and Lightbox Orchestra. Fred logged many hours in studios and on the road with the Vandermark 5, Ballister, and various bands with sax legend Peter Brotzmann.

We talked with Fred over Zoom about his love of collecting small objects—metal lapel pins and small books. We also touch on a few deeper topics like the difference between collecting for an institutional archive and personal collecting. Fred talks about the joy that collecting can bring but also how sometimes an administrative task like creating a catalog of your collection can remove that joy and make it feel like more of a “job.”

With Collectors Edition, we are testing a theory, the theory that learning more about the objects people keep can help us understand more about the world and our places in it, like how we tend to associate objects with certain memories and histories.

“All the old artists, musicians, dancers that I knew when I was a kid said, ‘Keep your nut small.’ Keep your collection small.”

Fred regularly posts photos of his metal pin collection on Instagram under the name @pincol_ecter. Here’s a small selection.

About the Bright Archives Podcast

The Bright Archives podcast explores what it means to build meaningful archives. We want to listen deeply to the world around us to investigate the value preservation has for all of us. The episodes are hosted by Katherine Barbera and David Bernabo.

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