Most people collect and display something in their lives. It might be a collection of family snaps stuck into an album, or holiday souvenirs arranged on a mantlepiece, assembled and displayed without any thought of being a 'collector'. Other people form collections for a specific purpose: Old Masters for investment, or memories 'collected' on tape to preserve a changing way of life, for example.

Sometimes people give their collections to museums where they are professionally cared for and made accessible to everyone. In the past, and occasionally today, private collections form the basis of new museums.