From rocks to coins to cat figurines, people have collected items since ancient Egypt. Some have taken the collecting concept to super kooky corners and hoard human hair or burnt food.
Unfortunately, we did not find such collections locally, but were able to connect with numerous Milwaukeeans with a penchant for stockpiling amusing items.
Jimmy Kaplan and Kay Stiefel live in a small East Side apartment. Sometimes Kaplan’s daughter, Sarah, lives there, too. They also share the space with more than 50 pigs.
Most of them are stuffed pigs based on the drawings of cartoonist and author Sandra Boynton.
"I just fluffed them for you last night," Stiefel says when we showed up to meet the "pig family."
The Boynton pigs – there are about 20 of them – came from a Kohl’s Department Store where they were sold for a limited time. To find more, the couple scoured eBay and thrift stores. They also added other types of fake pigs to their collection and started receiving them as gifts.
Most of the pigs are displayed on a long shelf built by Stiefel’s father.
The collection is still growing, but aside from the stuffed pigs there’s also a few plastic pigs, a pig puppet and one pig named Flower who "lives" half inside a sock.
"That might be a romantic thing between the two of them," says Kaplan.
The pig collection started organically when Stiefel bought a stuffed pig for a friend as a joke after they learned March 1 was National Pig Day. She also bought a pig for herself.
When she and Kaplan got together, he was fond of the toy pig, whom she had named Iggy. Kaplan retrofitted him with the full name Ignatius.
Iggy also has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. On Mother’s Day, Iggy tweeted at Sandra Boyton with the message "mother." Boynton retweeted this.
"Iggy was really happy about this," says Kaplan.
All of the pigs in the collection have names: Petra, Pig Newton, Zippy, Pierre.
"Pierre has a mustache. He’s French. And he’s known for his anger," says Kaplan, pointing out that his eyes are a little closer together than the other plush pigs, giving him a cross appearance.
The pigs share the last name "Sneeful" which is a mispronunciation of Stiefel’s last name.
"Some of them have hyphenated last names – like Dorothy Roundsnout-Sneeful – but ‘Sneeful’ is their official last name," says Kaplan.
Often, people think Kaplan’s daughter is the pig collector. "She gives us cover," he says.
Prior to collecting pigs, Stiefel says she collected pink elephants, but got rid of them when she moved to a smaller place.
"I didn’t think we had room for it," she says.
Robert Burns has a less fluffy and adorable collection. Instead, he collects items nabbed from Milwaukee’s storm drains such as hubcaps, sculpture, wallet contents and weapons.
The collection started about three years ago when Burns, a map enthusiast, wanted to find out why certain local rivers stopped and started on the map.
"Upon exploring I discovered the huge drain systems," he says.
The "drain collection" has about 50 items and is stored in a cardboard box. He also displays these items at art shows. His favorite items include a bronze deer sculpture and a Glock handgun that is encrusted with mineral deposits.
"We also found a pretty nice inflatable raft," he says. "People toss stuff down into the drains all the time, so there is plenty to see. We only take the truly interesting items."
Burns published a 52-page book, "UnderMKE," a photographic exploration of Milwaukee’s storm drains.
"I enter the drains through the rivers. I do a lot of research first. I don’t lift up manhole covers or anything like that. Way too dangerous," he says. "It isn't really that gross because we're talking storm drains not sewers."
When Anna Spankowski inherited a Bakelite (an early form of plastic) radio from her grandfather, she was immediately smitten. "I loved it, and that it worked," she says. "I loved listening to WMSE on it."
Over the years, she found more vintage radios at antique stores as well as rummage sales where she scored a couple of old wooden cabinet radios in great condition. Today, she has about 20 radios manufactured from the ‘20s through the ‘50s.
"Some of them are wood, some Bakelite and some are even hand made," says Spankowski.
Why people collect items is as interesting as the collections themselves. Often, the collections are of little monetary value. They are intended to evoke memories, preserve history or simply to add quirk and folly to a household.
Carole Ross’ collectible theme of choice is the owl. Ross has owl cookie jars, napkin rings, mugs, hot pads, pillows, jewelry, a night light, a scarf, towels, a dress, figurines and a "prize piece of owl string art."
"I still add to the collection but I'm choosy about what I buy or acquire. People give me stuff; for the most part I like what I'm given but sometimes it doesn't make the cut," says Ross. "I am not a pack rat nor a hoarder, rather a graphic designer with a flare for unusual decor. There's a fine line between cutesy and cool. Also I don't collect mean looking ones."
Matthew Meixner, who also has a pin and a Hot Wheels collection, started collecting keychains with his mom when he was a kid.
"I didn't keep it going since the box they're in is bulging. I do not display them. They sit in a box in a cabinet where they stay. When I look at them they bring back lots of fond memories," he says. "My wife likes it since we both grew up in the ‘70s and there is that look of the keychains whether it's from vacation or whatever that bears the era."
Meixner’s grandmother also contributed to the collection.
"My brother and I would go on vacations with her and we would purchase one to remember where that place was. Like a postcard it has that identity," he says.
Sometimes, a collection is intended and in the works rather than already acquired. Nikki Wallschlaeger, for example, is a collector of postcards from insane asylums made between 1900 and 1920.
"But I only have one so far," she says.
Wallschlaeger found the first postcard on eBay while looking for books specifically on the history of psychological treatment of African-Americans.
"Somehow, postcards of old asylums popped up in my search. I was instantly intrigued at how unusual it seemed to make postcards coming from such controversial places, places I've come to associate with silence and shame," she says.
And just like that, another collection was born.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
