Why Isn't Insect Collecting More Popular?

An insect collector calls for a new kind of insect collecting, and a new kind of insect collector.

I don't know about you, but I've found very few people seem to be familiar with insect collecting these days, and out of those who are familiar with it, even fewer seem to be fans. Nowadays, people will go to the movies or even just stay at home and watch the television, instead of going insect collecting.

Of course there was a time when insect collecting was immensely popular. For example, during eras of intense generalized suffering or social distress, the number of people who go insect collecting rises exponentially. People turn to insect collecting for comfort. During the second world war, for instance, there was more insect collecting equipment sold in one week than there is today in one year. Now, if you are ever at a party and happen to mention to somebody : "Oh, I'm into insect collecting" they look at you like you're from another century. Or mention a well-known entomologist like Vinceze Kollar or Tadeusz Jaczwecki and what do you get? Crinkled noses. Shuffling feet. Eyes focused on something in the upper right corner of the room. You know what I'm talking about!

Is insect collecting a hard sell? If you look at how entomologists support themselves today, you'll see a lot of professors. You might see the occasional journalist-entomologist, or schoolteacher-entomologist, and maybe the odd banker-entomologist or lawyer-entomologist. The circumstantial evidence speaks for itself. Most insect collectors don't make enough from insect collecting to buy pins, let alone food. Most insect collectors need a day job.

Why isn't insect collecting more popular? Why aren't ordinary people collecting insects, talking about insects, and just generally supporting the insect collecting industry?

One of the problems is that insect collectors only like talking about insects with other people who are also insect collectors.

Another problem is the fact that, with all these new media, there are simply many more things one can do besides going insect collecting. Perhaps insect collecting needs to embrace these new media? Perhaps a weekly television show or even podcast about insect collecting?

And added to all this, insect collecting is difficult, and requires special knowledge.

I suppose it's just the fact that the vast majority of insect collections today just don't mean anything anymore.

Maybe we need a national insect collecting competition?

I know that we can make insect collecting popular again.

Perhaps if we had people writing about insect collecting, then that would make other people want to go insect collecting all the time? Imagine it! If we had entomologists analysing quality insect collections in the weekly paper — I mean really analysing them in an intelligent way — then perhaps this would give people an ideal entry-point into insect collecting.

Today, in insect collecting, very few entomologists take it upon themselves to examine the choices insect collectors make in their collections, and what effect those choices might have upon somebody looking at the collections. As a consequence, very few people love insect collecting. Many more might, if insect collectors attempted to truly engage with the materials of insect collection—insects—and to connect insect collections with a public based on an engagement with these materials (insects).

We cannot have great insect collections without people writing about great insect collections, so please, do your job.

Go and collect some goddamn insects.