Before I became a collector, I viewed advertising as something on TV, flashy and forgettable, out of my young mind after 15 or 30 seconds. After I started collecting, even unremarkable pages from a newspaper or a magazine could become art, or even history.
As collectors, we all have our origins, our first loves, the items or ideas that made us who we are. I grew up near the railroad tracks that ran through Tunkhannock, and Swale Brook Creek was also nearby. One spring day while walking the tracks, I picked up an old tree bark fossil in a piece of coal or slate. I was just the discoverer, but it was large and impressive to a 9-year-old boy. I was hooked.