Turning Trash Into Treasure: A Brief Scrapbooking
History
While so many women today enjoy the art of scrapbooking,
many are surprised to discover that it has a history
that stretches back some one hundred seventy nine years.
It also has as much to do with trash as with delicate
embellishments and carefully written journals. Indeed,
what started out as a book about collecting scrap pieces
of paper and newspaper clippings has turned into a
multi-million dollar industry.
- Published in 1826, "Manuscript Gleanings and Literary
Scrap Book" by John Poole was a unique collection of
engravings and poems. The book also explained the best
means of finding, collecting, and arranging scraps
(printed pieces of paper with beautiful ornate designs).
- During this time, even the smallest leftover "scraps"
of paper were saved and later used in scrapbooking
layouts. Even today, some scrapbooking revolves around
stickers intended to look like old "scraps"
- "Scrap mania" quickly caught on in the society and
companies began producing scraps, scrapbooks, albums,
and supplies used for the display of puzzles, poems,
journals, and pressed flowers.
- In a society where little was wasted, the scrapbooking
addict would find plenty of uses for old newspaper
clippings, advertisements, and printed poetry.
- Modern scrapbooking, with archival and acid free paper
owes much of its success to Marielen Christensen. In 1980,
she shared scrapbooking albums of her families history
with the World Conference of Records in Utah.
- The albums generated so much attention that the
Christensen family saw an immediate business
opportunity. They opened the first retail stamping store
"Keeping Memories Alive"
- Today, thousands of scrapbooking companies supply the
eager scrapbooking crowd with stickers, rubber stamps,
acid-free paper, albums, and a whole host of
embellishments.
Scrapbooking continues to draw much attention and
interest since it is focused on the wonderful memories
of our lives and the lives of the ones we love. Whether
it is the birth of a baby or the graduation of a son,
these moments are sure to make scrapbooking a favorite
hobby for many years to come!
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