by MonetteH

Created on: May 06, 2010

Scrapbooking as an Important Way to Preserve Your Family's History

Many people think scrapbooking is simply a way to display photographs. However, a scrapbook can be so much more than that. Scrapbooks can also be a great way to preserve the history of your family.
By including photos, letters, documents, recipes, family tree information, and other bits of information, future generations will be able to look back and learn about their family's history.

Scrapbooking Options

There are many scrapbooking options available. Although most people immediately think of cutting and gluing actual photos into a book, there are also digital options available which can be especially handy when creating a scrapbook to capture a family's history. By using a digital option, families can save a lot of time when they create and print out one digital scrapbook; after which, you can print it multiple times so that every member of the family will have a copy.

Collecting Materials for the Scrapbook

Collecting your photos, documents and memorabilia is the first step towards creating a family history scrapbook. There are many possible sources for this material, including old family albums, boxes of photo slides, and even 8mm movie film. Although some of these sources may require the assistance of outside services to extract the photos, they can often be a source of valuable family history details. You can also take new photographs of family heirlooms such as jewelry, the family Bible, or a treasured quilt made by your great-great grandmother to add to the scrapbook.

In some cases you might also want to include pages in the scrapbook that include pockets designed to hold mementos such as a lock of hair or an antique handkerchief. Scanning mementos such as lace handkerchiefs or the embroidery on a wedding gown can also be used as a great source of customized background papers. If you need these customized backgrounds printed in a 12x12 format, there are online services that you can use in order to get these oversized prints.

Capturing Family Memories

When creating a family history scrapbook, it can be helpful to ask as many family members as possible for materials. It is important to remember that it's not only photos of people that can be important to a family's history, but also photos of houses, cities, pets, vehicles, and anything else that could be interesting to look back on. Letters, diary entries, or other written items are also great items to include in a scrapbook. In fact,

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