Scrapbooking

Creating Personal Treasures through Scrapbooks

Photo albums have always been a good way to create personal memories from pictures.  However, scrapbooks are more able to provide a story behind the pictures as other mementos and design features are freely incorporated into completing them.  Scrapbooking has attracted enthusiasts of varying backgrounds which just proves that creating memories and the desire to preserve the past is not merely confined to a certain age group or gender.

History of Scrapbooking

A scrapbook traces its origin from at least two similar forms of compiling personal information and memorabilia – the commonplace books which became popular in the 15th century and friendship albums which gained popularity in the 17th century.  While the former contained mostly quotations, poems, recipes and letters, the latter encouraged friends to place their names and illustrations on the album pages.  Hair weavings were also sometimes included by creative young women.  A later development by James Granger in 1775 wherein he created a book with several blank pages which can be personalized by owners through their own memorabilia gave rise to a practice known as grangerizing.

It isn’t quite clear exactly when the term “scrapbooking” came to be although the peak in its popularity happened sometime in 1880.  The scrapbook was understood to be a blank book where important newspaper articles and pictures where placed  for preservation.  When scraps from printing jobs were used to decorate the book pages, the practice paved the way for scrapbooking as we know it today. A book by John Poole published in 1825 entitled “The Scrapbook” laid the ground for the popularity of the term used to call this age-old hobby. The introduction of photography by George Eastman and the availability of an easy to operate Kodak brownie camera cemented scrapbooking’s place in hobby history.

Contemporary Scrapbooking

The interest in scrapbooking greatly lessened in the 1940s and was only resurrected in 1980 by Marielen Christensen through the display of her family’s more than 50 albums or scrapbooks in the World Conference on Records held in Salt Lake, Utah.  She capitalized on the popularity generated by her exhibit to publish a book entitled “Keeping Memories Alive” and went on to open a scrapbook store in 1981.

She openly promoted the use of scrapbooks as a way of preserving family history, records and memories.  Scrapbooking also provided a means to build social networks when hobbyists started to do their activity together.  The scrapbooking industry is now acknowledged to be a billion-dollar industry with scrappers, as scrapbook hobbyists are known, continue to drive it forward with demand for high-quality supplies.  Scrappers never had it so good as now with the wide availability of albums, pages and page protectors, and embellishments,  In-demand supplies include acid-free papers, ink, and embossing powder since it will ensure protection of pictures against damage.

Digital Scrapbooking

Modern technology has not exempted scrapbooking from its reach.  Scrapbooks in digital form are becoming quite common especially among those who are adept in image editing and who may not be looking forward to the demands of handling a physical scrapbook.  Through the use of scanners, page lay-out programs, and desk top publishing, digital scrappers can easily produce their own scrapbooks and share it instantly online.

The results of these efforts can also be converted into physical form and can be bound like a traditional scrapbook.  The only difference is that every page has been designed and printed to look like a scrapbook page without the usual efforts of cutting , pasting ,and arranging manually.  With the proper software, changing a page layout is quite easy.

Genealogy and Scrapbooking

One particular reason why scrapbooking remains popular through the passage of time is the human interest on genealogy.  Genealogy is the study of families in relation to tracing history and lineage.  The interest in genealogy stems from the human desire to establish family identity and legacy.

A sense of responsibility pervades in providing accurate accounts of family and personal history.  Genealogical research can make use of family scrapbooks which provides real stories and actual accounts of events which may not be known to others.  They are most useful when they are done during the time that such events happened since the passing of time affects human recollection.  Scrapbooking is a good recording option since it does not invite boredom by recording in pure text and instead encourages creativity while preserving the past.

A Family Record to Keep Forever

My Say

A scrapbook can contain only so much memorabilia but what they represent can extend to memories of a lifetime.