Posted on April 17, 2009 - by Cheryl A.Vatcher-Martin

Creating a Lasting Legacy

It is amazing to me that there are so many stories to be told via scrapbooking. I truly believe that a lot of scrapbook artists out there do not know that they are creating a lasting legacy for others to read.

As you know I’ve been studying a variety of scrapbooks that were made in the 20th century as I want to see what truly makes a good scrapbook from a historical standpoint. Even if the scrap book is called a photo album, more times than not, there is a wealth of information in it that is reflective of the photos and the stories that those people passed on through newspaper clippings, advertisements, and, obituaries.

If you want to learn about the history of a family and an era from our earlier days in Michigan, you have the opportunity to do so by visiting a variety of museums and actually picking up an authentic scrapbook, and, carefully turning each page to see what gem is contained inside.

I believe that there are items of nostalgia contained in them that would inspire our grandparents or older relatives to explain what it was like when Michigan was referred to as the western part of the country. There is so much history contained in the obituaries that I’ve come across in one particular scrapbook, that I am truly amazed at how painful it must’ve been to write them down and publish the deceased life for all to read about their loss.

One issue that I’ve encountered though is the omission of the exact date of a newspaper article which can prove to be challenging when one is trying to ascertain an age of an individual when all of the information is not provided. Many death notices in the scrapbooks do not contain the date of death from the actual newspaper.

This is a fact that I believe many overlook when they are compiling their own historic scrapbook, or one of memories from an individual’s life. If you do have a collection of obituaries that you want to include in one of your scrapbooks, try to see if anyone knows exactly when a relative passed away so that you at least have a month and a year to work with. Finding the exact date of death might be easier after you’ve compiled that information. The internet and genealogy websites have a plethora of search engines that can help you to pin down the missing data.

Some of the obituaries that I’ve read from the turn of the century are very detailed oriented from a person’s birth up until the time of the death. One wrote about how long the family would be in mourning and how difficult it was for the family to deal with the loss of a loved one. This was quite apparent when the deceased was a young child, or teenager. The published notices provided a peek into what that person loved most, and, painted a lovely picture of how he or she made the most of life.

If one of your family scrapbooks is missing some of these items, you can create a special section inside of it so that the scrapbook will have more detail relative to the story being told. You’re family will be pleased that you took the time to add your special touch to this scrapbook!