“Illustrating of a Story”

Certainly, one of the ways and reasons of building a scrapbook is in the recording of your “Summer Vacation.”  The advantage of making a scrapbook is at least two-fold.  One is the recording of the event(s) itself, then organizing it to create that perpetual reminder.  The second has to do with the emotions built into the events of the summer.  I have spent most of my life developing my craftsmanship and the most rewarding elements have been in remembering the process of the events.  Even if an entire family goes to Disney World, ride the same rides; eat the same food, etc. each member of the party comes away with their own unique impressions.  And it is that which should be imbedded in the building of the scrapbook.  The process of building the scrapbook itself becomes the vehicle for the memory and if the process is complete, the entire memory is revisited with each viewing of the book.

In an excerpt from “Children’s Occupations” pub. by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1920,  the author explains their process of “. . .illustrating of a story” this way

STORY-BOOK
An interesting book to make is the illustrating of a story by means of cutting out pictures or words which pertain to the subject at hand. For example, sandwiches are being passed for luncheon, and bread becomes the subject of conversation. In the scrapbook its process of development can be worked out with interest by placing on the first page a picture of a field in which a man is ploughing. The next page a picture of a wheat-field in all its beauty. Next comes an illustration of a machine which cuts the wheat down and binds it. Perhaps a picture of a threshing machine can be found, too. The mill where wheat is taken for grinding comes next, then a picture of a barrel of flour. The child of to-day thinks of the purchasing of groceries at the store, therefore he will want to add a picture of a grocery store to his collection. In the advertising columns of magazines one can easily find pictures of the cook making bread and putting it into the oven. The crisp loaf of bread cut into slices and happy children eating bread and jam are found in illustrations, too. With their bright eyes children will quickly find pictures of almost any subject you are willing to discuss with them. Such books, compiled in this way, would be worthy of perusing by all ages.

Though we have moved 86 years beyond when this book was published and our technology has added many more resources of scrapbook supplies and software to our warehouse, the process of telling the story has not changed for millennia.  With some of the software today we can even create many of the images (or at least doctor them) we would want to make our story complete.