Why scrapbooking?
Imagine for a moment that you are helping to clean up your grandmother's attic. You find three boxes in a corner, and on opening them, you discover photographs that belonged to your great-grandmother:
Box 1. Whether tossed in a photo box, left in the fotomat envelope, or placed in frames and albums, these pictures are mostly unlabeled. A few names here and there, a date or two. But mostly unlabeled pictures of people you don't recognize, but are sure you should know. The albums are not acid free, and many of the photos are faded. The box was not well cared for, and the framed and loose or boxed photos are in sad shape. Some are faded, mildewed, eaten by rodents, some have gotten stuck together from the damp. The newspaper clippings are faded, the ticket stubs and memorabelia are falling apart. You find a bunch of pictures labeled "Hawaii 1932" and wonder who took them. You see a photo of a boy on a horse. You see your grandmother holding her first drivers license and she looks happy. It's a wonderful trip down Heritage Lane, but you have no frame of reference for much of what you find, and you feel very lost.
Box 2. This box contains photo albums. These photos were better cared for. The box was not left out in the damp, so the photos are not mildewed and have not stuck together. The photos have names and dates, and sometimes places written on the back, or next to them in the albums. You find a bunch of pictures labeled "Honeymoon in Hawaii 1932" and decide that must have been your Great-Grandmother's honeymoon, she got married around 1932, right? You see a photo of a young boy on a horse labeled "Bill, Storybrook Farm Rodeo Days, 1938." "Is that Great Uncle Bill?" You wonder. "He was always so scared and nervous around horses, I wonder what happened." You find a picture of your grandmother holding her first driver's license, and she looks so happy. The albums contain newspaper clippings and ticket stubs. Some are faded as many of the albums are not acid free, and most are stuck to the cling albums that were used. It's a wonderful trip down Heritage Lane. You find enough mile markers along the way to enjoy the trip.
Box 3. This box contains several scrapbook albums. You find an entire album about your Great-Grandmother's honeymoon in Hawaii in 1932, describing where they went, what they did, how proud/nervous/happy she felt to be starting a new life as a married woman. You find the page with the picture of Great Uncle Bill on the horse. The journaling next to it describes the horrible fall he took in the bronc riding event, how long his recovery was, and how he was never really comfortable around horses again. You see a picture of your grandmother holding her first driver's license and read the story about how she was so nervous taking the test that she ran over the instructors clipboard, but he passed her anyway. "So THAT's why Granddad called Gramma 'Board-Runner'!" you think. It's a wonderful trip down Heritage Lane. You learn so much about your relatives and ancestors. What they were like, how they felt, what they did, where they lived. You feel closer to your entire family, living and deceased.
Which box would you rather find? Which box would you rather leave behind for your own Great-Grandchild to find?
That's why.
2 comments:
Hey, you can justify your addiction however you like :)
The problem with this theory is that in practice you get lovely detail/history on 1 photo per 1000. This is great for the one photo but leaves the other 999 with no context info at all, not even a tiny comment. Scrapbooks are wonderful to add color or detail to an event or events but they aren't a substitute for at least creating the acid free photo album with a comment next to some of the photo's. There just isn't enough time to live your life AND scrapbook about ALL the photo's but that doesn't mean a little context that is less intense can't be made about SOME of the photo's in that lovely acid free photo album.
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