Established in 2007 by Marc Fischer, and featured in the 2014 Whitney Biennial, Public Collectors encourages collectors of material culture—the kind that most museums won’t exhibit—to ‘open’ their collections to the public. Extending the popular website of the same name, this book presents a wide array of collections—some featured on the website, most newly assembled for publication—interspersed with commentary and essays exploring the problems and politics of collecting materials that may lack conventional monetary or cultural value.

"For as long as I can remember, I have depended on the U.S. Postal Service to bring new information and ideas into my world, and to help me share things with others." In 2010, Marc Fischer experienced postal trauma when he moved away from his beloved Nancy B. Jefferson Post Office on the Near West Side and became a customer of the Roberto Clemente Post Office in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood, which was just three blocks from his apartment. "Rather than forfeit the ability to mail things close to home, I did what any normal person with access to social media would do: I kept going back...