Victorians loved to collect things. Collecting was seen as both a form of entertainment and of education. One collected such things as shells, leaves, butterflies, etc., to study them and learn more about natural history. And, of course, one may have wished to simply show off one's collection! Certain types of collections might also become a fad or craze, such as the "silver spoon" craze or the "picture postcard" craze. (I wonder what Victorians would have thought of collecting Pokemons; they probably would have loved it.) Victorians who traveled often acquired large collections of foreign objects and artifacts. While Victorians didn't invent the concept of the "cabinet of curiosities," this was also popular - it might be an actual, physical cabinet, or a room or even many rooms filled with one's collection. Some larger "cabinets of curiosities" have since become museums, Sir John Soane's Museum in London being one of the best-known examples.

Shell-Collecting (Girl's Own Paper, 1880)

Writing in Autograph Albums, by May Croly (Demorest, 1880)

Collecting Butterflies and Moths (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

The Games and Amusements of the Month: August (Little Folks, 1883)

Rowing, canoeing, quoits, lawn tennis; ring-the-bell; collecting leaves, seaweeds and seashells.

The Games and Amusements of the Month: November (Little Folks, 1883)

Indoor games, including stamp collecting, guessing games, "lion-hunting," and the Sixteen Puzzle.

Hints on Collecting Stamps (Little Folks, 1883)

On Collecting Crests and Mottoes (Little Folks, 1883)

Autograph Collecting for Girls (Girl's Own Paper, 1891)

This does not refer to collecting signatures, but of handwritten documents, letters and manuscripts.

Collections, Hobbies and Fads, by Sophia F.A. Caulfeild (Girl's Own Paper, 1893)

Autographs, and Their Use, by Dora de Blaquière (Girl's Own Paper, 1897)

"Amongst our fads or crazes of today must be put down the modern use of the autograph as a decoration for furniture, as well as all kinds of materials which are used for bedspreads, tablecloths and other things." These include autograph tables; the American autograph quilt; autograph tablecloths in which the original signatures are then embroidered over; and the use of facsimile autographs to create a themed piece (e.g., a tablecloth with autographs of famous women writers).

The Silver Spoon Craze, by Dora de Blaquière (Girl's Own Paper, 1897)

On the fad for collecting souvenir spoons in the US and Canada.

The Picture Postcard Craze: Hints to Collectors, by Dora de Blaquière (Girl's Own Paper, 1900)

A Continent in Spoons, by C. Lang Neil (Windsor Magazine, 1903A)

"A trip through the United States and Canada pictured by souvenir spoons from the principal towns." The idea of spoon-collecting originated in the US, and nearly every town produced its own souvenir spoons.