When all is said and done, man-made objects are reflections of the lives and times of the people who made and used them. They are physical evidence of human invention, activity and need. In this respect, they serve as unwritten historical documents, that is, 3-D representations of ideas, inventions, society and culture.

The study of objects — material culture — is one of the most important of museum functions. Even without complete answers to all the questions a curator asks (and the results are rarely as complete as hoped for), the information that is gathered provides a clearer understanding of both the story of the artifact itself, and the period, place and people connected to it. The important thing is always to ask the right questions, and to ask them in a systematic way. The better we become at this, the richer our understanding of the world of things that surround us will be.

Museums are the historical warehouses and showcases of our material world and curators — the museum’s collectors — help document our past by collecting artifacts based on careful study and research. It is this process of inquiry that ultimately determines not just the curator’s choice, but also the value and the significance of the choices curators make.

Sharon Babian Curator of Transportation

Note to readers: The CSTM numbers in parentheses are the accession numbers of artifacts in the Museum’s collection.

† The author wishes to thank his colleagues in the Curatorial Division of CSTM for providing background information and helpful insight on the artifacts presented here.

This publication is also available as a brochure published in the Curator's Choice series. It is also published in French under the title Collectionner, pourquoi faire ?

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