Are you interested to know what a Scrapbook is?

A scrapbook is basically a book or journal full of interesting stuffs. Scrapbooker makes collages full of writings, photos and drawing. Some like the ideas of putting ticket stubs, flight tickets and entry passes. It is easy to think that scrapbooking hobby as a childish or unimportant hobby but believe me, it is a good way to channel your creativity and create your own scrapbooking momentoes.

On the surface, scrapbooking can be considered a simple creative outlet. But, if you observed deeper, there is a lot more to it.

Scrapbooker has been using it as a way of recording their histories or notable event in their lives. Creative scrapbooking is a great way to express yourself or show others who you are. Whether you realized it or not, scrapbooking is a multi-billion-dollar industry. There are scrapbooking blogs, stores, clubs and even scrapbooking forum available and it seems that creative scrapbooking will not be going anywhere in the near future.

Ever wonder when did scrapbooking start?

A “scrap” originally refers to a photo that is not mounted. People kept entire books full of loose photos and those were, literally, can be described as the first scrapbooks. Scrapbooking is not a phenomenon or fad that comes out only recently. Though it differs compared to their current form, the idea of scrapbooking has been around for centuries. The first scrapbooks were in use as far back as 1598.

Scrapbooks actually gained prominence during the Renaissance. These precursors of the modern day scrapbook were called ‘commonplace books’. Hamlet writes in one saying: “Smile and smile and be a villain.” Philosopher, John Locke highlighted them in his manual titled: “The New Method of Making Common-place Books.” In 1769 came the Granger books, books used by William Granger. Granger used this form to publish a history of England. He includes extra illustration of the text in the appendix. Granger books were also called extra-illustrated books.

People start to pay attention to scrapbooking in 1826, with the publication of “Manuscript Gleanings and Literary Scrapbook” by John Poole. The term ‘scrapbook’ was coined a few years prior to that and had until then existed under various names. During the late 1800s, Mark Twain also popularized the usage of scrapbooks by patenting a series of them in 1872.

Is there any relation between Photography and Scrapbooking?

Photography has brought the concept of scrapbook to another level and changed the way it was done completely. Now, it became possible to also capture scenes of the events being described in the text as well and the term “creative scrapbooking” was born.

In the 20th century, the popularity of scrapbook declined. This was due to recession caused by the first Word War. Businesses, including the business of recording happy times have been affected and they have been forced to close down. In addition to this, around 1940, the mass production of photo albums started and people begin to ignore scrapbook as the preferred method of recording events in their lives.

The resurgence in scrapbooking started with Alex Haley’s “Roots”. Ever since, there has been renewed interest in scrapbooking and, today, it has acquired a newer shade with the introduction of digital technology.

Have you created your first scrapbook yet?

Technorati Tags: common place books, Creative Scrapbooking, scrapbook, scrapbooking history

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