The Scrapbook in American Life [Hardcover]

Susan Tucker (Editor), Katherine Ott (Editor), Patricia Buckler (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 2006

This book explores the history of scrapbook-making, its origins, uses, changing forms and purposes as well as the human agents behind the books themselves. Scrapbooks bring pleasure in both the making and consuming - and are one of the most enduring yet simultaneously changing cultural forms of the last two centuries. Despite the popularity of scrapbooks, no one has placed them within historical traditions until now. This volume considers the makers, their artefacts, and the viewers within the context of American culture. The volume's contributors do not show the reader how to make scrapbooks or improve techniques but instead explore the curious history of what others have done in the past and why these splendid examples of material and visual culture have such a significant place in many households.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This academic but delightful volume explores the myriad ways 19th- and 20th-century Americans scrapbooked, turning photographs, magazine ads, love notes and recipes into albums that fashioned identities and preserved memories. Fifteen historians, librarians and literary critics contribute essays examining scrapbooks by an African-American musician, a Depression-era teen, a Wild West prostitute, South Carolina plantation ladies and countless children (including the young Willa Cather). In the 19th century, teachers and parents embraced scrapbooking as a wholesome pastime that would teach children to be frugal and productive. Scrapbooking wasn't an exclusively female pursuit. Ott argues that men often scrapbooked as part of their professional lives and examines male physicians' scrapbooks. The history of this hobby is bound up with the march of consumer capitalism; making scrapbooks was a way to refine and display one's taste, and mass-produced scrapbooks were the products of an industrial economy. The 65 b&w images scattered throughout are a visual feast: a prostitute's business card, newspaper photos of FDR, late–19th-century advertising cards, paper dolls, postcards, awards, Singer sewing machine ads, Bible cards. Scholars and scrapbookers alike will enjoy these slices of social history. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

A wondrous, captivating book on a unique topic: the history of scrapbooking in the U.S. Obviously, this is not a how-to guide for the casual crafter; instead, it is a book requiring time for in-depth reading. Its audience, then, is dedicated crafters who want to go beyond simply the practice of their scrapbooking hobby, or even readers who don't maintain scrapbooks themselves but are interested in how these artifacts speak of American social life. In terms of format, this is a collection of essays by a wide range of writers. They approach an equally wide range of subject matter, including women using scrapbooks to pass down medical remedies in their families, the childhood scrapbook kept by famous writer Willa Cather, and the scrapbook of German artist Hannah Hoch and its inferences to German culture between the world wars. Ultimately, scrapbooks are seen here as one of two kinds: learning tools and information distributors or private reflectors of "self," of one's own interests and special activities. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (April 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592134777
• ISBN-13: 978-1592134779
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,860,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It made a great gift., May 17, 2010

By 

Joseph T. Galietto "jerseycityjoe" (Jersey City, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Scrapbook in American Life (Paperback)

I bought this book as a Christmas gift. The recipient of the gift who is an avid scrapbooker loves the book and has gotten a great deal of enjoyment from it.

Joe