by David Bernabo and Katherine Barbera
Editor’s Note: One of the things we’re offering at Petrichor is the opportunity for other media outlets to cross-post with us. Columnist David Bernabo recently started this new venture, Bright Archives, a podcast he’s launched with Katherine Barbera part of his archival practice. David’s support has been integral to Petrichor, so I’m so happy that we’re able to uplift the projects each other too. Petrichor, in a way, is an archive–of this period in Pittsburgh cultural history, the people that I know, the projects we’re putting together. I hope that one day we can look back on it as archival material for what we create, and I’m so glad David’s work is a part of it. – ER
Bright Archives Podcast, Ep. 02: Fred Lonberg-Holm Talks About Tiny Collections
The Bright Archives podcast explores what it means to build meaningful archives. We want to listen deeply to the world around us to investigate the value preservation has for all of us. To do this, we developed two series: Collectors Edition, where we talk with collectors to learn what motivates all of us to bring objects into our lives, and how possessions shape our lived experiences, and Vernacular Archives, where we meet people who think about preservation differently and create collections rooted in people and place. This podcast is a project by Bright Archives, an independent archival production house, and it is being cross-posted with Petrichor.
For the first episode of Collectors Edition, we talk with Fred Lonberg-Holm. You may know Fred from his work as a musician, predominantly a cellist, composer, and improviser. He has led bands like the Valentine Trio, Terminal Four, and Lightbox Orchestra. Fred logged many hours in studios and on the road with the Vandermark 5, Ballister, and various bands with sax legend Peter Brotzmann.
We talked with Fred over Zoom about his love of collecting small objects — metal lapel pins and small books. We also touch on a few deeper topics like the difference between collecting for an institutional archive and personal collecting. Fred talks about the joy that collecting can bring but also how sometimes an administrative task like creating a catalog of your collection can remove that joy and make it feel like more of a “job.”
With Collectors Edition, we are testing a theory, the theory that learning more about the objects people keep can help us understand more about the world and our places in it, like how we tend to associate objects with certain memories and histories.
Fred regularly posts photos of his metal pin collection on Instagram under the name @pincol_ecter.
PETRICHOR 
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