The internet is an amazing thing. Whenever I travel, I take my computer along, and no matter how many times it happens it still amazes me that I can keep in touch with friends, family, and customers all over the world.  This post greets you from the beautiful Pacific Rim, and yes it is absolutely breathtaking..

I am an avid reader, and an enthusiastic learner, so I’m always on a quest to acquire some kind of new knowledge on a daily basis. I've researched all kinds of fascinating facts about Scrapbooking, and genealogy, and have decided to make this post a “did you  know post”. If you have anything you would like to add to this, please post it!

The History Of  Scrapbooking:

1)      In the 15^th century, Scrapbooks were actually called common place books.  They initially were books that housed people’s medical information; then later included recipes, drawings, diary entries, newspaper articles and other information that people wanted to share in a “common place”. Scrapbooks were also called savings books.

2)      In 1706, philosopher John Locke published what could possibly be referred to as the first scrapbooking reference book. It was called The New Method of Making Common-place Books. What was interesting to me about this fact is that it was a man publishing a manual on the proper techniques for what would later be called scrapbook journaling!

3)      63 years later Granger books were developed. The original Granger book was actually a history of England in which the author William Granger added an appendix of his own illustrations for the text.  This was a novel concept, and started a trend of its own known as “extra illustrating books”. The actual process of creating new editions of books with updated ephemera became known as “Grangerizing”

4)      By the early 1800’s people had begun to create albums with embossed covers and intricate closures, at this point women began to incorporate memorabilia of all kinds into these albums. One interesting note was the concept of Friendship albums. These were essentially early scrapbooks that women created, and the pages were dedicated to friends. Each page would include a clipping of the friend’s hair that was interwoven with ribbon and flowers, and placed alongside poetry or other memorabilia about the friend.

5)      In 1825 the term Scrapbook was officially defined in a publication called “The Scrapbook’, and by 1826, the craft was very popular. With the advent of photography approaching the mid 1800’s, scrapbooking continued to evolve.  By 1872 famous author Mark Twain had developed and marketed scrapbooks with self-adhesive pages interspersed with non-adhesive pages, and they were sold in Montgomery Ward’s department stores. It was reported that by 1885, he had already made $50,000 in sales from these books! Think about this…even back then, the scrapbooking industry was a booming industry!

6)      Alex Haleys’s “Roots” – a Pulitzer prize winning novel whose story starts from Juffure,  West Africa in 1750, tells the story of slavery in America, and ends in the same village in Gambia several generations later. This novel really renewed people’s interest in their heritage and  the television mini-series attracted over 130 million viewers during its week long broadcast in 1977.  The book itself sold over 1 million copies in its first year. Genealogy research and the concept of lineage and historical preservation became an international household obsession.

7)      The Church of latter Day Saints has also apparently been heavily credited with the awareness of the art of scrapbooking. As part of the church’s requirements, their followers are to document and preserve their family’s history. This requirement undoubtedly attests to the reason why the LDS organization has the world’s largest library of genealogical records and attracts over 1900 visitors per day! According to their records, their International Genealogical Index database has approximately 600 million names of deceased individuals and an addendum with an additional 125 million names; that were acquired from thousands of original birth certificates, christening certificates, and marriage certificates.

But I digress    It is alleged that scrapbooking was well received in the LDS community, and in 1980 at the World Conference Of Records, The Christensen family unveiled 50 volumes of  their family’s history in decorated albums, and apparently the display took everyone’s breath away.

    By 1981 (one year later) the Christensen family opened the very first scrapbooking store in Utah, and wrote the first scrapbooking book called “keeping Memories Alive”

Take Home Lesson For Today:

Scrapbooking still continues to evolve, and the latest technological advances in film, computers, papers etc. allow scrapbookers to combine graphic arts, photography, fine arts techniques, and writing into a truly remarkable and unique art form. All kinds of debates become a part of its evolution. As we strive for speed and efficiency  in our modern world, some have moved towards digital methods as a primary means of scrapbooking. Others have found a fantastic way to combine both digital and conventional methods to create absolute works of art. Much of this is preference, and the fact that we are being creative gives all of us the license to do as much or as little as we choose with our scrapbook pages.  Scrapbooking  is not gender limited, and neither is it age limited. It is a way to document who you are so that people you may never meet will know what made your life story unique.  It is a way to honour your ancestors, and celebrate what will ultimately become your own legacy.   

As your TLC consultant, we are happy to be a part of this ever changing industry, TLC continues to be innovative in the design of its products, and with each new line of products launched; it opens more doors to creative processes.  If you’re new to the art of Scrapbooking, or would like to learn how to scrapbook contact us today to join our Artist’s Choice Autoship Scrapbooking Club

Until the next time,

Have a memorable day 

Scrapbook Artistry