{"id":1193,"date":"2018-01-11T14:52:58","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T14:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachingwiththemes.com\/?p=1193"},"modified":"2019-11-30T13:05:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T13:05:00","slug":"scrapbooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachingwiththemes.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/11\/scrapbooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrapbooks: Comparing 19th century primary sources to 21st social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scrapbooks are stories created from re-purposed media and ephemera of the era. Historical scrapbooks are also primary sources for the classroom. Students analyze texts and images to more about daily life in the past and compare them to modern digital scrapbooking on social media (Facebook, Pinterest, or blogs)<\/p>\n

A short history of scrapbooks<\/h4>\n

\u201cOur life is a living Scrap-book. Clipped from the scroll of Time and pasted in by the hand of Fate, every day brings its contributions, and the leaves accumulate until the book is filled.\u201d<\/em>
\nFrom Scrap-books and How to Make Them<\/em><\/a>, 1880 by Elklanah Walter Gurley (1834 \u2013 1908). Teacher, principal, newspaper editor and Union Civil War veteran.<\/p>\n

Over 130 years ago, E. W. Gurley promoted “scrapbooking” as a worthwhile personal, professional, and educational activity. While the format has changed, the purposes remain the same. A scrapbook, then and now, is a personal story created from re-purposed media (electronic or paper) and ephemera of the era.<\/p>\n

\"Recipes<\/a>
Recipes are often clipped and pasted into scrapbooks. This page is from the recipe scrapbooks of Helen Brown Williams (1912-1998) of Kentucky.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Creating scrapbooks began in the 1820s when disposable publications such as newspapers and magazines became more common. People wanted to save important information relative to their lives so they literally cut information with scissors and pasted it onto paper for future reference. \u201cCutting and pasting\u201d<\/a> has taken on a new but similar meaning in the computer age. In the early days of scrapbooking, clippings were often pasted on recycled paper or books no longer needed, such as record or ledger books. As the pastime grew, blank books especially for scrapbooks were sold. Mark Twain<\/a> patented and sold scrapbooks with self-adhesive glue strips included.<\/p>\n

Select \/ click images for more information.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Who made scrapbooks in the 19th century?<\/h4>\n
\"This<\/a>
This 1881 poem represents the popularity of making scrapbooks in the late 19th century.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Everybody! Rich or poor, famous people and average people, men, women, and children. Children were encouraged to keep scrapbooks because they were educational. Scrapbooks were thought to help children read better, learn to save and organize important information, and develop a useful hobby. Men and women kept professional scrapbooks to document their accomplishments or save useful information related to their interests. Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Charles Sumner, and Mark Twain clipped articles from newspapers and magazines documenting their lives and interests. Many surviving scrapbooks were created by average men and women.<\/p>\n

The 19th-century\u00a0information overload grew as the century progressed. Printing technology improved, images began to be published in newspapers and magazines, advertisers distributed colorful trading cards. The invention of photography added a new element to scrapbooks. At first, portraits and photographs of important events, called cartes de visite<\/em>,<\/a>\u00a0 could be purchased from professional photographers and collected in special albums. In 1888, the first snapshot camera was introduced so that average people could now take their own snapshots.<\/p>\n

Scrapbooks as primary sources for the classroom<\/h4>\n

Scrapbooks \u2013 albums on the table or collections that exist digitally \u2013 express how individuals interpret and value the information of their era. They also represent how technology and mass media have evolved over time.\u00a0 Check your local archives, historical society, museum, or attic for old scrapbooks. Many institutions have digitized all or some old scrapbooks for easy viewing online.\u00a0 For example, the header image <\/a>for this post is a page from one of the many scrapbooks in the collection of my university’s archives.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This scrapbook of newspaper clippings and cartoons, created in the 1920s, belonged to Katherine Warford Wilson (1906 – 1991) of Kentucky.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ask students to compare and contrast paper scrapbooking of the 19th<\/sup> century to digital scrapbooking on social media (Facebook, Pinterest, or blogs, for example).<\/p>\n

The following questions might be helpful . . ..<\/p>\n