Gladys’ Story

As a young girl, I remember the joy of filling several scrapbooks with clippings from magazines, poems, thoughts, and pictures I loved. One of my favourites was packed with photos and articles about the royal family. But scrapbooking’s roots go much deeper into history.

The Early Days

• 1600s: People used commonplace books to keep important scraps of information, jokes, and ideas.
• Early 1700s: The English philosopher John Locke wrote a book on preserving excerpts and proverbs.
• Late 1700s: The invention of colour printing stimulated interest in including pictures in scrapbooks, leading to various types of albums.
• 1825: The term “scrapbook” became so popular that magazines offered tips on using pictures and newspaper clippings to create them.

Not Just for Ladies

Many think of scrapbooking as a pastime for ladies, but did you know Thomas Jefferson was a scrapbooker? He filled albums with newspaper clippings from his presidency. After he retired, he created a scrapbook called “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,” which included important excerpts from various Bibles. Another famous scrapbooker, Mark Twain, invented an adhesive scrapbook with pre-pasted pages and filled at least 57 scrapbooks with clippings, pictures, and souvenirs from his travels and lectures.

The Photography Revolution

The invention of photography added a whole new dimension to scrapbooking, allowing people to include personal photos in their memory books.

Modern Scrapbooking

• 1980: Marielen Christensen showcased her 50 volumes of decorated family memory books at the World Conference of Records in Utah, sparking a surge in interest. She and her husband published a manual and opened the first scrapbooking store.
• Mid-1990s: Scrapbooking became one of the fastest-growing hobbies.
• 1996: The first scrapbooking website was created.

Faith and Scrapbooking

Rhonda Anderson, co-founder of Creative Memories and later with Heritage Makers, played a pivotal role in shifting the focus of scrapbooking from just recording family history to highlighting God’s work within the family.