Posted on March 25, 2009 - by Cheryl A.Vatcher-Martin

Scrapbooking is Everywhere

Scrapbooking is everywhere! On a recent trip to the Romulus Museum, I spotted a huge scrapbook with family mementos in it. As a researcher, I am inquisitive relative to the history of the area, and, also, to learn about the Bird family which settled there in the early 1800’s. The Bird family donated one of their family scrapbook’s to the museum.

The scrapbook itself is large and multicolored with shades of brown in it. It appears as though it was put together sometime in the early years of the twentieth century. That type of scrapbook isn’t readily available today. Of course, if you are extra thrifty, and are looking to go bargain hunting for an older type of scrapbook, you may find one at an antique shop, or even a thrift shop!

The scrap book artist in the Bird family didn’t fill up all of the pages. It appears that it was put together to share some information on this family with the general public. The photographs utilized were antique and were a little bit faded with time. The small pictures were put in the various plastic slots throughout the huge scrapbook. Because of their size, the photographs were a nice focal point inside of it. The color of the interior of this scrapbook was a light shade of beige.

There were documents or certificates inside of the huge plastic slots, and, each one fit inside of it snuggly. The paperwork included inside of this scrapbook was clear, and the bold print stood out. I didn’t want to touch the items, so, I can’t tell you whether or not the documents were original, or, photocopies.

Perhaps you have some important family history in your bloodline, and, you’d like to put together your own historic scrapbook. There is a way to do this without using the original documents and photographs. You want to preserve the authentic photos, and, not handle them too much either.

Obviously it would be basically impossible to make a copy of your old photograph from an original negative unless one of your relatives was a photographer. With many photographs from the 1800’s using sepia tone for their artistry; it is possible to recreate that color schematic today. What the printer or photo processor will do, is scan your authentic photograph into a scanner where you can adjust the color and see how it looks. If you see that there are any splotches, or age spots, some of those can be lifted off of the newly made print, and, the reproduction will look much cleaner.

If you utilize a photo processor, make sure that they do use the correct color so that your photograph looks authentic. I’ve scanned old photographs from the 1800’s and, have printed them in black and white and sepia to see which looks better. One photograph that I used for a project looked better in black and white as the age spots disappeared somewhat.

Perhaps it is time to take a trip back in time and visit your grandmother and see what hidden treasures she has for you to sort through. As mother’s day is approaching, it’d be awesome for her to receive a scrapbook with her favorite photographs nicely laid out inside of it!