The Evolution of Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking has been in existence since the age of Aristotle; it is a human tradition of collecting and ruminating on days gone by, a way of telling stories, and a way to preserve a life to share with others. Different cultures and generations place varying emphasis on picture-taking, collecting memorabilia, and documenting memorable events. For example, older generations tend to collect keepsakes and chronological events, perhaps for memoirs or family trees. Younger generations tend to collect pictures of family, friends, and places, and may journal current experiences. Whatever the form, the essence of scrapbooking is a timeless tradition.

Even Mark Twain was a scrapbook aficionado; he published a series of scrapbooks during his writing career, that documented places he visited and pasted the various pictures and clippings for publishing. Despite the lucrative income, he opened the doors for others to engage in a growing hobby. Blank book and journals became increasingly popular over the decades, and scholars and general groups alike frequently took part in journaling, collecting and pasting information, and creating personal stories.

Scrapbooking increased as a pursuit in the 1800s when albums and large journals became easily available to the general public, and not just the upper class. It could now hold newspaper clippings and even decorative pieces; with Eastman Kodak’s introduction of the camera in 1888, the world of scrapbooking took on a whole new dimension.

The collection of photographs became a passionate pastime for many during the world war era, and people became more interested in the pursuit of photography over the traditional scrapbooking involving clippings. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that scrapbooking as we know it today emerged as a cultural trend. At this stage, it became clear that photographs and clippings could combine to create a memoir-style collection or album.