National Scrapbook Day – May 1, 2027

History of National Scrapbook Day

While there are no records of when exactly the first National Scrapbook Day was celebrated, it is celebrated on every first Saturday of May. The history of scrapbooks goes back to the 15th century. People would either buy special notebooks or recycle the ones they already had lying around. Scrapbooks were not only objects of historical preservation but they also became an important part of many people’s identities. Some evidence shows that, during the 16th century, people in Europe used scrapbooks as a way of keeping a record of their friendships and relationships. These types of scrapbooks were very similar to the modern-day yearbook, containing people’s signatures, best wishes, quotes, etc. College students, particularly females, would document their college lives.

A well-known figure who was an avid scrapbooker was President Thomas Jefferson. During his tenure from 1801 to 1809, he would collect newspaper and magazine clippings that mentioned the work his administration was doing. A little later on, with Joseph Nicéphore Niépce’s invention of permanent photography in 1826, scrapbooking with photographs became all the rage. However, creating photo albums, a cousin of scrapbooks, only became popular much later on, in 1860, as people were of the perception that photos are not to be shared or reproduced for others.

Apart from putting pictures and text into scrapbooks, people would also tape miniature memorabilia into them. A very common example included, and still includes, flowers from either a trip or a loved one. As the years went by, the flower would become pressed and discolored, but the memory of that particular time would remain. Mark Twain, a famous American writer and entrepreneur, capitalized on the popularity of scrapbooks by bringing out notebooks with special nooks attached to the pages for easy photo and memorabilia storage.