Influenced by social changes in the 1960s and the New museology movement that questions the role of museums in society, a new idea of collecting methods was born in Sweden in the shape of Samdok, an organization whose objective is to document the present. After establishing that a large portion of Swedish industrial era history was left unpreserved, the Swedish museum professionals have realised the importance of contemporary collecting. The organisation operated for over 30 years due to its flexible and inclusive model and methodological framework and it still serves as an example for numerous heritage institutions across Europe. Despite the selection process for representative contemporary objects still being riddled with questions and uncertainty, many European countries have decided to start their own contemporary collecting projects inspired by the Swedish model. Even tough the primary motivation for its formation was to save money on collecting practices, over the years Samdok became an extremly socially engaged programme. Contemporary collecting initiatives exist and are being conducted across Europe and Croatia to this day, and it seems that the discussions regarding the question of documenting the contemporary life will remain open in the fields of museology, ethnology and anthropology.