How Scrapbooks Started

In 1980, modern scrapbooking became well-liked when Marielen Christensen shared 50 volumes of her folks memory books at the World meeting on Records in Utah. The albums generated so much interest the Christensen family went on to open the 1st dedicated retail stamping store, Keeping Memories Alive. But how did scrapbooking start more than 150 years ago?

Scrapbooking became preferred after the publication of a book called Manuscript Gleanings and Literary Scrap Book b John Poole in 1826. This book was a bound collection of outlined poems and engravings. Poole also included recommendation on the best way to collect and arrange scraps.

Scraps were made public pieces of paper, frequently covered with ornate designs. Stickers harking back to nineteenth century scraps can still be purchased in scrapbooking stores and at internet sites.

The 1st scrapbooks were created for the display of mementoes such as pressed flowers, paper cuts, silhouettes, feathers, puzzles, poems and other bits of ephemera.

Scrap Mania became a major feature of white collar nineteenth century life, and publishers of scraps, scrapbooks and albums quickly replied by making a spread of products that could be cut and pasted in albums.

The scrap collector viewed almost any material as scrap worthy and included a range of elements in her scrapbook, including paper clippings, advertisements, engraved pictures and bits of verse.

Today's scrapbookers struggle to make albums that capture a special memory of an individual place or event. Scrapbookers enjoy the challenge of creating fascinating pages that tell a story. Many scrapbookers also enjoy the social act of scrapbooking and attend crop parties or workshops at non-public houses, scrapbook stores and conventions where they can create page layouts and enjoy the company of friends and family.

Scrapbooking was enjoyed for similar reasons in the nineteenth century. The drawing room scrapbook was the centre of social exchange and discussion in the mid-1800's. Scrapbooks were used to share thoughts and feelings and became a place to record family stories and special memories. Scrapbooks were considered valued books that were kept in families for a number of years.

Scrapbooking began to decline in popularity in the early 1900s due to business restrictions following World War I. The recession that followed forced many scrapbook-related corporations into bankruptcy.

Folks have been picking up scraps and saving them in albums for over 150 years. Today, scrapbooking is the fastest growing hobby in the U. S. . According to The 2004 National Survey of Scrapbooking in America, almost a quarter of U.S. Households report one or more folks collaborating in this hobby. The idolization of digicams has opened a totally new realm for scrapbookers in the form of digital scrapbooking. Scrapbooking has come a long way makes me wish to scrapbook!