Scrapbooking Trivia:

• Did you know that Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and Thomas Jefferson, as well as Mark Twain, were famous practitioners of this hobby? Twain dedicated Sundays to working on his scrapbooks, and in 1872 he even patented a self-pasting model eliminating the need for paste. By 1901, over 50 different types of scrapbooks bore Twain’s name.
   

• The hobby of preserving illustrations, clippings, and memorabilia in a book gained its name in 1820 in a magazine called The Scrapbook. By the mid-19th century, middle-class families spent hours of their leisure time placing scrap items in blank paper books, now known as scrapbooks.
   

• By the mid-20th century, scrapbooking had declined in popularity. During WWII, “Books Across the Seas,” a book exchange program, briefly revitalized the hobby.
   

• A resurgence of interest in family history in the 1970’s, tied to popular culture and to Alex Haley’s Roots book and mini-series, revived the public’s enthusiasm for preserving memorabilia.