Collecting hobby history

As a card collector, Jefferson Burdick’s name has likely showed up while doing research.

He’s credited with giving the names to many of the vintage sets we love today through his American Card Catalog. The T-206 Honus Wagner, yep, that was Burdick. As a way to catalog the cards, he gave letters to card sets to distinguish them such as 'T' for 20^th century tobacco or 'F' for food cards or 'E' for caramel cards.

I have one of the later editions of The American Card Catalog, which I have used more than once when looking up information. It’s actually a great reference guide to have as it includes sports and non-sports cards.

There is a cool auction that popped up on eBay, a run of The Card Collectors Bulletin. The Card Collectors Bulletin started in 1938 and featured articles by collecting greats such as Burdick, Charles Bray and more. 

The auction, however, spans some of the later editions of The Card Collectors Bulletin. You can tell by the photos in the auction, especially one for the bulletin that has an ad for the Garbage Pail Kids movie. 

I love looking at these kinds of items. Collecting is so different, yet so similar to what it was all those years ago. People attempted to complete sets, found great trading partners and shared their knowledge with each other. The collecting internet (blogs, message boards, news sites) has become an interactive version of The Card Collectors Bulletin.

The American Card Catalog is available on Amazon, but it tends to get pricey. Every once in a while a used book will pop up for a decent price.