Good afternoon or evening everyone,

I am in Boston! That's the starting point for this Fem Fri - Isabella Gardener, who created a giant collection of… stuff, including but BY NO MEANS limited to incredible art in Boston:

sabella Gardner is a perfect example of the difficulty in distinguishing an eccentric collector from a compulsive hoarder. Where does one draw the line? Is it a matter of taste or refinement? Quality over quantity? The ability to purchase more space so as to not wallow in what’s been amassed?

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum

Of course, amassing doesn't have to be physical possessions - how about Sidney Robertson Cowell, who collected American folk songs:

She was comfortable in the company of these towering figures of modernity, but she was also at home hanging out with lumberjacks, miners, and fishermen, or among singers and musicians who retained bits of ancient traditions.

“I don’t scare easily,” she wrote once in allusion to her willingness to track down songs in unlikely places—like the time she spent a night riding in a hearse just to question an informant (the driver) about the Child Ballads.

https://daily.jstor.org/the-intrepid-field-recordings-of-sidney-robertson-cowell/

Love,

Alex.