by Shelley Kishpaugh

Created on: April 20, 2009   Last Updated: April 22, 2009

The name "Trapper Keeper" causes many people to look back on their school days with fondness. Trapper Keepers were binders with a wide array of interesting graphics, cartoon characters or patterns. Trapper Keepers were one of the biggest fads of the era. They fell into in the same category as leg warmers, designer jeans, and Nike tennis shoes. Back in those days, you simply were not cool without a Trapper Keeper.

Whatever happened to one of the most "must have" school supplies in history? Like many fads, Trapper Keepers slowly faded away. The concept was a great one. Trapper Keepers provided a fun method of organization for school children. Parents were excited to purchase something that promised to help a child organize and prevent the loss of school assignments. Children were simply happy to have fun school supplies.

Given its potential for greatness, why did the Trapper Keeper fade away? Like all fads, cool rapidly becomes uncool within a few years. This is part of why Trapper Keepers disappeared. Another reason involved Trapper Keeper's lack of durability. Any person who had one as a child knows that they never lasted the entire school year. The thin plastic used to hinge the cover to the rest of the binder inevitably began ripping just a few months into the school year. Part of this was caused by the owner's tendency to over-stuff the binder, but part of it was the fact that they were simply not made well enough to withstand the typical wear and tear a school child puts his or her belongings through in a school year. Aside from the flimsy hinges, the Velcro closure usually didn't last for the whole year either. Most of us were happy to throw the blasted things into the trash by the end of the year.

You may think that Trapper Keepers are a thing of the past, but it turns out that they only went underground for a few decades. Mead, the company that makes Trapper Keepers, came out with a new version prior to the school year of 2007. The new and improved Trapper Keeper looks sturdier than before. It also boasts a magnetic closure rather than Velcro. According to Mead's website, the new Trapper Keeper is available nationwide in office supply stores. It might be worth a trip to the store for a blast to the past to check out the new version of a cultural icon. Will the new version live up to its predecessor? Only time will tell, but without the great themes and graphics that the original Trapper Keepers were known for, it is unlikely that the newer version will enjoy anything close to the fame experienced by the original.

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