Sunday, September 20, 2009

SHOW & Tell

Did you ever wonder what scrapbooking looked like 70 years ago or if it even occurred to people to "scrapbook" that long ago? Many of us already know the answer to that question if we were lucky enough to have a family member who has passed down recipe books, record books, photo albums, personal histories, etc. from their ancestors before them. We might also know that they didn;t have all the bells and whistles that we have today that make scrapbooking such a joy to us all. And if your like me...you might even know that they definitely DID NOT have ACID FREE paper 70 years ago. Arggggghhhh.
This is my grandmothers 4-H Record Book, she made when she was 17 years old, making this artifact just over 70 years old (my grandmother taught me better than to reveal her age...so you'll have to do the math!). I thought I'd take a moment and "share" this ongoing project of mine with you and "tell" you a little bit about why its so special to me.

First off, it must be said, that she was not your ordinary, run-of -the-mill, 4-Her, OH NO, she was a hard core, blue-ribbon, world fair winner type of 4-Her! So you could of course, expect no less of her record book. When I was young I used to love to flip through the kraft pages of this album and look at all of her drawings, and photographs of her projects and marvel at her amazing stories, as well as the handwriting that told them! The fact that my grandmother even allowed me to touch this book, let alone rifle its pages, was a huge honor, I now realize. However, these days I would not even dare to turn its pages for fear of them crumbling into nothing... apparently acid free paper was so overrated in the 30's (or non-existent)! So carefully and slowly, I am attempting to piece together her memories in an album that will live on for many generations to come!

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