Since when did "scrapbooking" become a requirement for memory-keeping?

This post was updated in 2022.

I've always been a memory-keeper, journaler, scrapbooker.  Since their inception, photos have always GONE somewhere--in a family album, or some sort of book.  So for a long while, everyone was a memory-keeper or scrapbooker.  

You took a picture, you put it in a book and documented it, the end.

These are my people.  💗

And somewhere along the line (in the 1980s and 1990s), this thing called scrapbookING came about.  A scrapbook was no longer a noun.  It was a verb--"to scrapbook."  You could be a scrapbookER and do scrapbookING.

I'll never forget the first time I learned that.  I had moved to a new city and was getting to know someone new.  I mentioned that I'd been working on my scrapbooks.  She was THRILLED!  "You're a scrapbooker??"  She asked to see what I'd done.  

I thought that was a really odd request because it was just photos organized in one of those magnetic photo albums--you know, the ones where you peel back the protective film and put your photos on the sticky surface.  It wasn't a big deal.  But I gave my three-ring album to her and watched her face fall as she gave a cursory look through my book.  

I didn't really understand what she was expecting or why she was disappointed.  And then I learned the term "scrapbooking"--and learned that it meant this:

It meant cute.

Papers.  Embellishments.  Layering.  Cutting.  Cropping.

I later learned that I needed to get my photos out of those acid-filled books and onto acid-free paper.  And I like creativity, so I jumped on the scrapbookING wagon.

But I always knew not EVERYONE wants to sit down for hours to create pages like this.  

That's why when Heritage Makers came my way in 2005, I could see the potential.  It could bring back memory-keeping to people who didn't think they could do it because they didn't like (or have time for) scrapbooking.

People who don't like the scissors and the storage space required for traditional paper scrapbooking could create photo-storybooks digitally!

And that is the truth.  It just matters that you DO.

Over the last couple of decades, we've somehow developed this *incorrect* notion that we can't do anything with our photos if we don't scrapbook.  And there are so many people who don't have time for or interest in scrapbooking!

Since when did "scrapbooking" become a requirement for memory-keeping?!

Bombshell, guys.  It's not!  It's NOT a requirement for memory-keeping.

You have photos.  You have memories.  That means you can be a memory-keeper, the way people have been for centuries.

In 2021, I was introduced to what I would call the ultimate option for not-scrapbooking and the ultimate option for digital scrapbooking.  

Funny how that works!  But it's true. 

I made you an overview of what I term "unscrapbooking" (2 options) plus the ultimate digital scrapbooking tool.  

If you don't have the space or interest for traditional paper scrapbooking, this is for you.  If you're short on time, the first 2 options are your new best friends.  If you love creativity, option 3 is your new best friend.  (I personally use all three!)

High quality and photo privacy are a big deal, and you get that here as well!  These are the best options I've seen in well over a decade of memory-keeping as a business.

Start enjoying your memories now!  {Get started preserving your photos, memories, and stories digitally with one of these fantastic, high-quality options!}  It's pretty amazing that something so simple is so fulfilling while its impact lasts for generations.

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