Photograph albums are places for photographs to live, whereas scrapbooks give photographs something to do.
The winner of the Ella Publishing photo bundle is DorothyCC! Dorothy, email me at stephaniemedleyrath at gmail dot com to claim your prize.
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation.
A discussion on scrapbooking is incomplete without a discussion of the role religion plays within scrapbooking.
One genre of scrapbooking is called faithbooking, which involves compiling a scrapbook about one’s faith and their spiritual journey. I did not interview any scrapbookers who did faithbooking. I did not seek out this style of scrapbooking, but might in future research. Do you faithbook? What can you tell me about faithbooking if you do?
I did interview scrapbookers who scrapbooked about religion some of the time and some who used scrapbooking as part of their religious practice, though not necessarily faithbooking.
Among my respondents, scrapbooks occasionally demonstrate the significance of religion in the scrapbooker’s life. For instance, one respondent only includes photographs of people who are either family members or her church’s ministers. Friends, co-workers, and others were not included in her scrapbooks—only family and religious leaders.
For most scrapbookers who are religious, however, their scrapbooks inevitably leave out a significant part of their life because they are often prohibited from taking photographs of religious ceremonies. Pages about Baptisms may include photographs from before or after the ceremony and the Baptism certificate, but not always the actual ceremony because of this prohibition. For example, it is against the rules to take photographs inside a Mormon Temple, whereas other religions may only discourage photography of certain ceremonies or during certain parts of a ceremony. Occasionally, a scrapbooker mentioned observing religious ceremonies that could be photographed but opted not to in order to be respectful. Moreover, photographs are more likely to be taken of special religious ceremonies rather than everyday religious life.
Religion is also important to a discussion about scrapbooking because the Latter-day Saints (LDS) are credited with popularizing modern scrapbooking. Several respondents mention the LDS church as being the reason scrapbooking is more popular today than in the past. LDS members are not required to scrapbook, but they are encouraged to record their histories. This recording may take the form of scrapbooking, journaling, or even blogging. In other words, scrapbooking may be a way to perform a religious duty.
Religion also matters in that religious groups sponsor crops and sometimes classes. Churches and synagogues regularly hold scrapbooking nights or afternoons for their members to come scrapbook. Scrapbooking, then, is a leisure activity accepted and condoned by religious groups and is a way for scrapbookers to do religious practice.
What role does religion play in your scrapbooking? Join the conversation below or on facebook.
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Stephanie
Ella Publishing Co. has a bundle of photography e-books that I get to giveaway to one of my readers! Just leave a comment below for your chance to win. I’ll select a winner from all entries on Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at midnight CST (Chicago, IL).
The Photography Ideas Bundle includes:
40 Top Tips for Better Photos: Simple suggestions for stunning photographs by Rebecca Cooper
Picture Perfect: 129 expert tips for shooting stellar photographs by Becky Novacek, Elisha Snow, and Kelly Noell
Don’t Say Cheese! How to get great, natural photos of your kids by Rebecca Cooper
Enjoy three photography eBooks, featuring more than 227 must-try hints and helps for improving your photography, for $5 off. This bundle is available for a limited time only, so get it while you can! (If purchased individually, this set of eBooks totals $21.97.)
Just comment below for your chance to win! To keep it interesting, why don’t you tell me about one thing you want to be able to do with your photography.
Stephanie
On the first Friday of each month, I report my scrapbooking expenses in my quest to achieve Minimalist Scrapbooking.
Here’s where my scrapbook dollars went in May:
Grand total: $228.60
The kitchen cart really busted my budget, but it was necessary. I like to stand when I scrapbook and needed a taller surface. I also needed to increase my scrapbooking surface. My monthly purchases inched up to an average of $176.99.
Related posts:
2012
2011:
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Stephanie
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation.
This is the last post on race and ethnicity from my dissertation. (You can read the other two posts here and here.)
The way stories are told in scrapbooks typically emphasize narratives of achievement. This is understandable. I know I have a tendency to focus on the hard work that I put forth towards achieving my goals. At the same time, focusing on an achievement-narrative fails to acknowledge any privilege we might have due to our race, class, gender or some other demographic factor.
Another issue to consider is how scrapbooks overall, are racially segregated in that most of the people included in scrapbooks are the same race. This is a product of the segregated lives in which most Americans tend to live (most Americans live in segregated neighborhoods, attend segregated schools and churches, and so on) with few Americans having friends or family members of another race. Racially segregated scrapbooks create boundaries between who belongs and who does not. Cases where racial others are included (as friends or family), are notable exceptions. Most often, racial others are included because they are in the background of a photograph.
Race and ethnicity may not be a major theme of scrapbooks but they do play a role in some scrapbooks some of the time.
More importantly, how race is considered in scrapbooks reflects our larger American culture. (And the same most likely holds true in other nations.) I think it says more about our larger culture than about individual scrapbookers, however, individuals do have the power to change this culture. As long as most Americans live racially segregated lives, the content of scrapbooks will also remain racially segregated. As long as we focus on achievement-narratives, we fail to notice how our own privilege has helped our achievements along.
Something else to consider is that scrapbooking is a way for Americans to be American. Though scrapbookers may emphasize their racial or ethnic roots at least occasionally in their scrapbooks, what they are mainly doing is emphasizing their Americaness. Instead of emphasizing race and ethnicity, people (American scrapbookers) may be using scrapbooks to emphasize their Americaness (think about all those 4th of July and 9/11 layouts).
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Stephanie
There are lots of ways to manage a child’s memorabilia. As a scrapbooker, I’ve been a bit torn. Do I scrapbook all the artwork? Do I scan it and create a photobook and then toss it? Do I just throw it all in a box and leave it for my daughter to deal with when she is older? Do I include her in the process? What about non-artwork memorabilia?
During the school year, I sort artwork and other paperwork into several piles. Some goes directly to trash (while my daughter is not watching). Some goes into a pile of stuff I want to hold onto. The rest of the artwork goes into files for family members. Most of our family lives far (like hundreds of miles) away from us. Each aunt, uncle, and grandparent has their own file folder and I just randomly distribute the artwork. I distribute the artwork whenever I have other things to mail the relatives or if I will see them. At Christmas, whatever is left gets mailed with a holiday card and photos from the year. I don’t care if the relatives throw the artwork away. The point is they get to see how her artwork changes and in a way see her grow-up and change.
Now, what do I do with the stuff I want to keep? How do I decide what to keep? What do I do with it?
I have a memorabilia box from Creative Memories. It does not look like they sell them anymore. I filled the box this year, so I will have to figure something else out next year.
Here’s what I’ve included:
The dress my daughter wore around her first and second birthdays.
I’ve kept the dress she work home from the hospital and her onesie and hat from the hospital.
The shoes she learned to walk in. (Sorry this photo is blurry.)
This shirt was originally going to be donated because it never fit quite right. After it ended up in the donate pile, but before it was donated, I rescued it because it was from my mother-in-law, who past away last fall. 
Here are the boxes of clothing I want to save. I’m about to sort through more of my daughter’s outgrown clothing (I’m on a big donation/purging kick) so I might end up adding more later.
This box from Creative Memories came with four (two styles) of folders for storing flat memorabilia. I am using one folder for each year. I organize by school year/age. My daughter was born in June so I go by her birthday and fortunately it covers an entire school year. I took a sharpie and labeled each folder with the school year (e.g., 2011-2012).
I kept very little artwork. This year was the first year that my daughter really talked about her artwork. I dated every piece with the school year before placing it in the folder. I also wrote on the back of each piece about why I kept each piece.
My daughter attends school (daycare) at the same place I work. We have about a 30 minute commute and we go back and forth between NPR and music. This year, my daughter got into the music and has her favorites. I burned a copy of our music playlist (all her favorites). I have a copy for this box and a copy for a scrapbook page I am planning about our commuting soundtrack.
My box is full! This covers my daughter’s first four years. Next year, I’ll have to figure out a different storage solution, but I do like the 12×12 folders.
Other thoughts…
Do I scrapbook any of her art? Yes, but I’ve only scrapbooked a couple pieces of her art. I don’t scan it either. I keep some, give it away, and throw it away.
I asked how others deal with the memorabilia on facebook and most do some variation of what I mentioned here. One person uses underbed storage to store everything for the year and then sorts through it at the end of the year. I definitely need some sort of triage system in place. I don’t have a good go-to place to pile everything. I toss and sort as I go through the year, but still tossed most of the stuff I had kept from the past year.
What about you? What do you do with children’s memorabilia and artwork? Join the conversation below by commenting!
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Stephanie
In the comments section on my most recent post at Scrapbook Update, I was accused of not supporting Local Scrapbook Stores. I find this really troubling. I started out working in a Local Scrapbook Store. Besides the accusation being untrue, it missed the point of the post.
It did get me thinking about where my scrapbook dollars are spent. I’ve spent the last year keeping track of how much money I spend on scrapbooking and where it is spent. I report here each month how much I spend but my focus has been on the dollar amount. I have not been paying close attention to where those dollars are spent, though that information has been tracked.
Today, I created a spreadsheet of where my dollars have been spent from April 2011 (when I first started keeping track to today, May 24, 2012). You can read my most recent post and get links to all posts on the subject here.
Here’s where my scrapbook dollars have been spent:
Big Box Stores
Includes Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn’s
Total: $148.50
Photo printing and photobooks
Includes Walgreens, CVS, Shutterfly, Snapfish, scrapbookpictures.com, persnickity.com, blurb.com
Total: $170.93
Local Scrapbook Stores
Total: $309.34
Online Education
Includes Big Picture Classes, Balzar Designs, Ali Edwards, Ella Publishing, Get it Scrapped, Shimelle
Total: $254
Online Stores
Includes Technique Tuesday, EK Success, Scrapbooks Etc., Crafty Steals, ITunes, Amazon, Creative Memories, Stop and Scrap, Two Peas, Scrapbook.com, Adobe
Total: $528.27
Neither Big Box nor LSS (i.e., Archiver’s)
Total: $160.03
Random Offline Shopping
Includes: hardware stores, tourist shops, office supply stores
Total: $52.12
What does this really mean?
My online shopping totals are misleading. It includes purchases to Creative Memories (through my consultant who lives several hundred miles from me), mom and pop operations like Technique Tuesday, things that can only be bought online (like a kindle version of Scrapbook Workshop), a couple of purchases from big box online retailers (Two Peas, Scrapbook.com), and computer software (Lightroom). I shopped so randomly for physical product online that I opted to lump all of these purchases together. It’s imperfect, but does make it my highest dollar amount on the list.
My big box retail shopping mostly included things that my LSS either didn’t carry or I was not willing to make a special trip there just to see (about 50 miles roundtrip). This includes paint brushes, speedy ball, and peacock feathers. Go ahead, judge me for betraying my LSS.
A large portion of my online purchases were for classes. Could I take these at my LSS? I could take classes at my LSS, but not the classes I bought and it’s not just because some were taught by industry leaders like Ali Edwards. Even if my LSS offered these classes, I most likely would not take them there. I have a full-time job and an almost 4-year-old in addition to other obligations. I need a class that I can take at 5 in the morning. Seriously. This is when I watch the videos to the classes I take.
My photo printing involves major corporations (shutterfly) and small operations (persnickity). I tend to go with the big guys when they run a really good sale or I need prints right now (hello, Walgreens and CVS). My favorite has to be Persnickity. I can get unusual-sized photos, which I like.
Is shopping outside of an LSS destroying local scrapbook stores?
Sometimes, but this by far is not the only contributing factor to why some LSS close. That’s another post for another day.
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation.
Probably, one of the most interesting findings regarding race in my study was that I could observe a color-blind ideology at work. Color-blind ideology basically means a person no longer sees race. This is all well and good and might give us the warm and fuzzies, but the reality is that race still very much matters in the U.S. Race still shapes an individual’s life chances (e.g., educational attainment, life expectancy, infant mortality, risk of arrest, housing quality, and so on). By ignoring race, we ignore these very different outcomes that are strongly correlated with race.
Perhaps, it is due to the overwhelming focus on happy and positive memories in scrapbooks, but race and in particular, racism, is ignored in scrapbooks. Instead, race is reduced to commodities (I’ve discussed this before here and here) or is included symbolically as a choice.
Scrapbookers can choose to emphasize or deemphasize their race and ethnic backgrounds through their scrapbooks.
For example, one white respondent is married to an Asian-American man and emphasizes his culture in her scrapbooks as it is her culture now, too, especially as it relates to their daughter. The scrapbook includes celebrations important to his culture and words written in his native language. Interestingly, the words are written in Latin characters instead of Chinese characters. Race is included in the scrapbook as a way to teach their daughter about her cultural heritage. Respondents also write words in the language of their ancestors in addition to including photographs of those ancestors. In this way, race and ethnicity are viewed as something one used to have, but are not part of a person’s daily life.
In another example, one White respondent was especially interested in exploring ethnicity in her heritage album as a way to respond to the racist talk she hears from various family members. She hopes the scrapbook reminds her family that they are only first and second generation Americans so they should be more understanding of the plight of immigrants.
I’m not sure that I’ve done a single page about my race or ethnic heritage in any capacity. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
What role does your race or ethnicity play in the stories you record in your scrapbooks? Join the conversation below or on facebook.
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Stephanie
It is time for Take Twelve again. Each month in 2012, I’m joining Ella Publishing’s Take Twelve challenge. The goal of the 2012 Take Twelve Project is to take 12 photos on the 12th day of each month for a full 12 months—and scrapbook them! You can join in the fun any month of the year.
I had grand plans to have my daughter take the photos for May. She was completely uninterested, which is surprising because normally she wants to take photos anytime I take out my camera. Oh well. Here’s my layout for May:
Check out my Take Twelve Photos and Layouts:
And the Take Twelve Design Team:
Like the Car
Nihao, Cupcake!
Janette Carter-Kincaid
Scrap Inspired
Scrappy Wife, Happy Life
Day by Day
Right Here-Right Now
The Scrapbooking Haven Diva
Scrapworthy Lives
People of the Scrapbook
My Little Blessings
Life is Sweet
A Swoop and a Dart
Endless Possibilities
Yeah, Write
Visit Ella Publishing Co. and share your layout for a chance to win a prize.
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Stephanie
Stephanie Medley-Rath is a sociologist and scrapbooker who studies scrapbooking and memory keeping. Scrapworthy Lives is a blog focused on her sociological analysis of scrapbooking, with a sprinkling of posts about Stephanie's own scrapbooking projects.
