Customer Reviews

Scrapbooks: An American History

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a beautiful book allowing us a glimpse into some gorgeous examples of vintage scrapbooks. The photos of the books are so well done you feel like you could touch the different textures of photos and scraps attached to the pages. If you are interested in the history of true scrapbooking then you should definitely buy this book. It is a work of love.

That said, modern scrapbookers beware. I agree with the author that the kind of scrapbooking she is presenting is closer to the original meaning of the word and hobby. Everyday scraps of ephemera are collected and pasted onto pages...with no thought to design or it's future readers other than what pleases the maker. It was a beloved personal hobby that can now, unknowingly, give us glimpses into what life might have been like for that person, or at least what might have been on their mind.
I agree with the author that modern scrapbooking has become almost soul-less...all about expensive papers, embellishments and posed photos. In this modern manufactured world, it seems that scrapbooking memories is also as such.
If you are interested in how scrapbooking began, about how generations of women (and intelligent men!) before us saved their memories, you will love this book. If you've gotten stuck in a modern scrapbooking rut and want to put more meaning to your hobby, this book will be inspiring and may change your direction.

The only element that I do not like about this book is that there is a bit of snobbish-ness about the whole phenomena. I respect that Ms.Helfand is an art critic and graphic designer, but I wish that she would have left her opinions about the books she is presenting out and just concentrated on the history of scrapbooking itself.

The people who created the vintage scrapbooks and the people who create modern scrapbooks share one thing...scrapbooks are born of their love, of their sense of fun, and their awareness of the life they are living, however they choose to record that in a book.

The reason I love this book is because finally Jessica put in words what I could never do....tell the story of peoples collected memories. Beautiful photos ! If you have a drawer in your house, or a relatives house that is filled with old pictures or a saved collection of anything -you will not be able to put this book down. If only I had thought of writing the book first !
I highly recommend buying a few copies to remind people of the love of collecting warm memories. I curled up with a cozy blanket and read it for hours- and then I gave it to my Mom and she read it for hours. We all are information over loaded...but reading this book was equivalent to sipping rich hot chocolate from your favorite mug on a cold winters night.
Lee

Jessica Helfand's book is nothing less than a living, breathing slice of American history: a beautiful, funny, exciting living collage of who we are, where we came from and what we're all capable of being -- flawed, human, deep and joyously alive. On a design level, it's a visual feast. On a literary level, it's full of stories of the famous and the anonymous, each one riveting. Botton line: the scrapbooks she has unearthed, and their fascinating minutiae, make up nothing short of the perfect archaeological find for anyone interested in/fascinated by our collective national heritage; you could literally spend the next twenty years, if you wanted to -- and I think I will -- poring over each and every one of the things in these scrapbooks, and marvelling in the stories they tell.

As for the flap over the author's apparent intent/attitude concerning scrapbooks in general: isn't it completely irrelevant? Judge the book not by its author, whoever she is. Check out the book. It's a marvel. It's a museum between two covers. It's a journey through time. It's a hoot. It's a gem.

Turning the pages of Jessica Helfand's beautiful book is like turning back time. Each selection is layered with import, curiosity and the promise of story. It's a wonder the author was able to edit down any of her findings as each one launches you to a distant world. My eyes and mind were completely engaged as I wound through the pages - as if I was a treasure-hunter seeking clues to understand the pathology of collections.

As a modern day scrapbooker, I was inspired and reminded to privilege the everyday ephemera I've kept along with my images and notes of random thoughts and comments. For, these examples assert that this "lost" kind of labored expression still exists today, only we've grown accustomed to a blanketed and generalized editing mentality.

I'm not sure that modern scrapbooking is entirely bereft of individuality...but rather the tools of the trade found so easily in craft stores today are not our ready-made "answers to scrapbooking" but should be considered as entry-points to story-telling.

If you are interested in scrapbooking you will enjoy this book. It's a wonderful gift and an unusual take on what it means to make memories.

Helfand is a wonderful, imaginative writer. She brings such understanding to the portraits she creates of the scrapbookers, and she is so articulate that she helps you see things better. Plus I like the way she is able to put this art form in the ongoing context of design. A great book.
A. Rome

Scrapbooks: An American History


Scrapbooks: An American History by Jessica Helfan is a book for all lovers of ephmera and Americana. It is neither high brow nor low brow. It captures the passion and history of peoples love of memory. The images are beautiful and the text is accessible.

What is most intriguing, and almost voyeuristic, is to see a persons life progress though the years, the places they have been, the events they witnessed and the people they loved.

To sit with the book is to take a trip through time.

I LOVE THIS BOOK.

Eric Baker

This well "crafted" book of Scrapbooks is a beautiful historical document of our visual past. The use of the term "scrapbook" has come to mean something different today, which is not to say the historical and the contemporary are not connected. So to all you "scrapbookers" out there, please take the time to enjoy the differentiation, to relish in the beauty that comes from artifacts found, not bought, and to to be inspired by all that came before us, before the noun became a verb.

This beautiful and evocative book is a delightful study of a very personal art form. The scrapbooks reproduced here, along with the author's charming and insightful commentary, provide a view of our cultural landscape from a vantage point not often staked out.

An absolutely lovely book to be pored over, cherished, and shared with others.

I bought this as a Christmas gift but decided to keep it for myself.
This is how scrapbooking used to be and hopefully readers will see the value of going back to this method of using just what is available in their personal archives.

This is the book we are giving to everyone we know for Hannukah and Christmas. It is so delicious in every way: informative, thoughtful, stunningly beautiful. It is the perfect coffee-table book or bedtime book, as well as a great conversation piece. You won't believe the Anne Sexton story in its innocence and grace, but there are a zillion others. Helfand's work is magic, and it will make the simplest things in the world around you -- the spoon you're lifting, the lint under the sofa -- seem like treasure.