A late-19th-century scrap album page of chromolithograph scraps; its maker is unknown. Photo Auckland Museum, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Scrapbooks
What it took directly
- documentedThe 1980s scrapbooking craze took from Creative Memories, a direct-sales company that began marketing scrapbooks in 1987"Creative Memories, a direct sales company, begins marketing of scrapbooks, creating a new craze for this form of memory keeping." Tulane University, "A Scrapbook Timeline"
- statedMark Twain's self-pasting scrapbook took from the ordinary scrapbook of its day, made "in any of the known and usual ways" but with gummed leaves"A and B represent two scrap-books of any desired dimensions, and made, as far as material, binding, &c., is concerned, in any of the known and usual ways." Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), US Letters Patent No. 140,245 (June 24, 1873), via Google Patents
- documentedScrapbooks took from die-cut "scraps", the leftovers of German print jobs"Developed in Germany, these glandzbilder, chromos, or scraps were the leftovers of a printing job, and were sometimes recycled to the bakers' trade for wrapping special breads." Tulane University, "A Scrapbook Timeline"
- documentedScrapbooks took from photographs printed in newspapers, once halftone printing arrived"Stephen Horgan's "A Scene in Shantytown" is printed in 'halftone' in the New York Daily Graphic. Thus begins an era where people may clip photographs as well as the written word from the newspaper and other publications." Tulane University, "A Scrapbook Timeline"
What it learned to do
- documentedScrapbooks learned from William Granger's history of England, sold with blank pages for pasting in illustrations"William Granger publishes a history of England, in which he introduces extra prints illustrative of its text. In a later edition, he extends this idea by including blank pages on which could be pasted whatever appropriate illustration a purchaser might choose." Tulane University, "A Scrapbook Timeline"
- documentedScrapbook keepers learned from E. W. Gurley's 1880 manual, Scrap-books and How to Make Them"E. W. Gurley publishes Scrap-books and How to Make Them, a book that notes the foolishness of letting a good article go to waste." Tulane University, "A Scrapbook Timeline"
- documentedModern scrapbooking learned from journaling: writing down what the pictures can't hold"For Randall, the journaling aspect of scrapbooking is so important because as the years pass, people don't always remember everything." CBS News, The Early Show (September 16, 2002), on Paperkuts editor Angie Randall
The tradition it sits in
- documentedThe scrapbook comes from the commonplace book, made popular by John Locke's 1706 method"The use of a commonplace book becomes even more popular after John Locke publishes his New Method of Making Common-Place Books" Tulane University, "A Scrapbook Timeline"
- documentedThe scrapbook comes from the friendship album of the early nineteenth century"The early nineteenth century was the heyday of the friendship album, a book in which people kept the autographs, poetry, prose, and wishes of their friends." Tulane University, "A Scrapbook Timeline"
- inferred1980s scrapbooking comes from the twentieth-century family photo album"The photo album, first created in the 19th century, becomes the most common form of scrapbook in the 20th century." inferred — Tulane's timeline says the photo album became the most common scrapbook in the 20th century and dates the Creative Memories craze to 1987; that the craze grew out of the photo album, rather than the clipping scrapbook, is our reading of the two entries
Where the whole form comes from
- documentedThe word "album" comes from the white tablets on which Roman edicts and public notices were posted"The word "album" dates from the days when a praetor's edicts and other public notices were recorded for public information on paper tablets or tablets that were white." Deseret News (October 5, 2007), "Some important events in scrapbooking history"
- documentedThe art album comes from Giorgio Vasari, who advised keeping works of art in albums"Vasari advocated keeping works of art in albums, and his method was to influence the beginnings of museums and libraries all over the world." Deseret News (October 5, 2007), "Some important events in scrapbooking history"
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