Nancy Rosin of Franklin Lakes purchased this scrapbook page that features locks of hair affixed in decorative swirls.
The economy is in turmoil, the value of your house is plummeting, your job is in jeopardy and there's a war going on, seemingly without end. What better time to start a scrapbook?
Creating scrapbooks for therapeutic reasons is just part of the hobby's long and varied history. Most people are familiar with scrapbooks that document vacations and family history -- baby's first step, or a child's first day of school. But they have been inspired by other events, too.
In a new book about the history of scrapbooks, Jessica Helfand writes, "To keep a diary, journal, or scrapbook is one way to steel oneself against the inevitable tide of vulnerability that surges in the wake of any kind of tragedy -- which may provide one explanation for the fact that sales of scrapbook supplies in America have essentially skyrocketed since September 11, 2001." By Linda Ocasio
Nancy Rosin of Franklin Lakes, who has written five books about scrapbooking, said people also have started scrapbooks as a way to work through mourning after a loved one's death, or to welcome an adoptive child to the family.
"It's a different canvas for everyone," said Rosin.
Helfand dates scrapbooks to the commonplace books of the Renaissance, in which readers compiled quotations and personal stories to a blank or existing book, a kind of running commentary on their reading.
You can find scrapbooks stuffed with colorful trade cards, advertisements and die-cut chromolithographs going back to the 19th century in flea markets or on eBay. Mark Twain was a big scrapbook fan, and even marketed his own easy-to-use blank scrapbook in the post-Civil War era.
Cynthia Hart, a designer in Summit and the author of "Scrapbook Workshop" (Workman), urges scrapbookers to "capture the things that are going to be lost."
"My mother kept scrapbooks, photo albums of my baby years that are totally interesting to me now," Hart said. "She kept the label from the first package I received and her doctor bills related to my birth -- very cool personal ephemera!"
For those who want that vintage touch, without haunting flea markets and antique stores and spending lots of money for the real thing, Rosin, Hart and other collectors sell compilations of old images for scrappers to use. Dover Publications also publishes numerous books, many including compact discs filled with copyright free images from the last 100 years or more.
Digital scrapbooks have gained in popularity, but as technology leaps ahead, access to your digital scrapbook forever is not guaranteed (think of ye olde eight-track tape). Rosin and Hart favor old-fashioned scrapbooks, using archival papers and supplies of course, to extend its lifetime.
Scrapbooking can be expensive: Rubber stamps, special scissors and punch-out tools, colorful paper, stickers and all kinds of embellishments -- it all adds up.
Keep in mind that the scrapbook your descendants may treasure the most will be homemade, containing personal artifacts specific to your experience and time, not designed by mass-produced templates or filled with store-bought doodads.
Use family pictures, ticket stubs from a favorite movie or sports event, add illustrations from magazines and newspapers and arrange them in a way that is meaningful to you.
For example, some with a sense of history might be inspired to document the historic rise to the presidency of Barack Obama, combining public and family narratives about the black experience in America.
Journalize in your own handwriting and jot down your thoughts and you've created something unique -- a scrapbook journal that will be treasured by your family and children for generations to come.
If you must embellish, grab a few extras on the cheap from Amazing Savings, which has deep discounts on scrapping supplies. Even the big craft stores like Michaels and A.C. Moore have a ton of affordable papers, stickers, stamps and other ephemera, and regularly offer coupons.
"One can do beautiful scrapbooks for very little money," said Rosin. She has found some antique scrapbook treasures at auction that provide guidelines on how to personalize and enrich scrapbooking today. For example, she was the successful bidder of a scrapbook, circa 1910, at a live auction in New York.
"It's a scrapbook of a cruise that a woman took with her father and sister," Rosin said. Inside the book were pictures, napkins, bus tickets, train tickets, calling cards, doilies and even a pressed flower. "You can kind of relive that trip," Rosin said. "Write in your own handwriting, tuck in a drawing -- to me it all goes to the heart of it."
She also purchased a scrapbook page from an ephemera dealer that included a swatch of wedding dress fabric, and the date of the wedding, Oct. 23, 1839, in beautiful script.
Another single page she purchased featured locks of hair affixed in decorative swirls, dated 1855. "Just the idea that you'll find things like this -- a lock of hair -- it's a real connection with people," Rosin said.
That real connection is at the heart of Helfand's book, "Scrapbooks: An American History" (2008, Yale University Press). The richly illustrated volume is a meditation on the hobby, its history and its meaning for those who created scrapbooks and for those who discover them decades or even centuries later. Helfand zeros in on specific scrapbooks from library archives, private collections and a few she purchased on eBay.
Helfand esteems the raw collection of ephemera unique to the person, place and time, and describes her history as a celebration of "the soul and the spirit of the American people."
That's the kind of scrapping that Rosin, Hart and others love -- details that may seem common to us, but carry a rich, historical significance that only emerges with the passing of time.
"Things that don't seem important to us now will be important to future generations," Rosin said.
The (big) business of scrapbooking
Stores that sell scrapbook supplies raked in some $2.5 billion in 2007, according to Vic Domine of the Craft and Hobby Association based in Elmwood Park.
It's not hard to understand why: the association surveyed consumers and found people are drawn to scrapbooking because it's something the whole family can do, provides an outlet for children's creativity -- and there's a genuine feeling of accomplishment when one has finished pasting in that last photo layout or embellishment. There's even a Scrapbooking Day in May.
Still, the hobby has not been recession-proof. Domine said "2007 was the first time we saw a decline" in scrapbooking spending, based on the group's consumer research. Many of the smaller craft stores have been hit hard; the bigger stores like Michael's and A.C. Moore cater to a variety of hobbyists (painting, sewing, woodworking, etc.), and haven't taken as big a hit.
Find out more:
A selection of scrapbook resources, all available at amazon.com:
"Memories of a Lifetime" series includes CD with copyright-free images: "Vintage Labels from a Lady's Dressing Room: Artwork for Scrapbooks & Fabric-Transfer Crafts" (2006) and "Christmas: Artwork for Scrapbooks & Fabric-Transfer Crafts" (2005), both by Nancy Rosin, Sterling/Chapelle publishers.
"Cynthia Hart's Scrapbook Workshop" (1995) and "Cynthia Hart's Victoriana Calendar 2009," both by Workman Publishers.
"Scrapbooks: An American History," by Jessica Helfand, Yale University Press (2008), a richly illustrated volume that includes a picture from the Camp Fire Girls Album, Lenape (New Jersey), 1915.
Also check out Helfand's website devoted to scrapbooks, thedailyscrapbook.com. Every day, she adds a new image from her voluminous scrapbook collection.
Dover Publications (doverpublications.com) sells many collections of copyright free art for scrapbooking and other crafts.
You also can see images of the Mark Twain scrapbook at etext.virginia.edu/railton/marketin/scrpbook.html.