Clothespins by Lisa Congdon

Precisely 253 days ago, Lisa Congdon embarked on a far-reaching and deliciously compulsive year-long project, titled A Collection a Day, for which she arranges and reproduces objects from one of her many, many collections. Most often these are (beautifully) photographed; sometimes they are drawn; and on occasion, she paints them. Lisa vowed to post one of these groupings on her blog, every single day for the duration of 2010, and is well on her way to completing this goal.

As we mentioned back in January, Lisa writes of the project, "Since I was a young girl, I have been obsessed both with collecting and with arranging, organizing and displaying my collections. This is my attempt to document my collections, both the real and the imagined."

It's a project that is very close to our own collector hearts over here at 20x200 and as the year progresses, A Collection a Day never ceases to delight. In recent days she's documented collections of golf tees, vintage food stamps, sewing ephemera, buttons, pendants and bookmarks. Sometimes the collections are budding—two items making a dashing pair—at other times they reveal that Lisa has likely stashed away one object at a time, only to find herself on day 225 with a group of ten beautiful vintage coat hangers. The project has appeared on myriad blogs throughout the year, including a feature just yesterday on NPR’s Picture Show.

It is thus very fitting, and very well-deserved that the project is being made into a book by the fine folks over at Uppercase Publishing. Though the year and Lisa's documentation will eventually come to an end, they'll be preserved in this publication, scheduled for release in Spring 2011. (You can pre-order your very own copy at Uppercase today.)

In the meantime, you can also listen to Collector by Brooklyn band Here We Go Magic, the very fitting song that first came to our minds while browsing Lisa's site. They sing,

I've got a mild fascination for collectors
I've got a mild fascination for collectors
Where'd you find all that time,
a place for everything in the house?
I've got a mild fascination for collectors.

A piece of wood from Noah's Ark,
a thing collected from the start.
And if there is another flood,
your house will float on Noah's wood.