Scrapbooking & Technology
BA Thesis by Laura Kenny
SCRAPBOOKING: A HISTORY
T
his chapter will look at the scrapbook throughout history and its many different variations. To discover the origins and how the scrapbook developed into its modern form, it will examine historical examples of the scrapbook including commonplace books, Victorian scrap albums and photograph albums. To investigate the relevance of technology in scrapbooking, early advances in printing will provide a framework for examination. In researching the origin of the scrapbook, looking at its dictionary definition can provide a starting point; ‘a book with blank pages in which newspaper or pictures are stuck. This definition can be applied to the discussion of all the changing formats of the scrapbook and the changing of the materials which are stuck into the scrapbook. Early scrapbooks were books used to compile knowledge, and to remember useful concepts or facts they had learned. ‘Commonplace book’ is the name given to a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use and is described as ‘the earliest known reference to scrapbooking, as we know it today’ . Such books were for scholarly use and ‘were kept by schoolboys and statesmen alike’. Rickards writes that the commonplace book originated at an academic level but the concept was ‘downgraded to include personal jottings and memoranda.’ The content of such a scrapbook preserve may take the form of quotations, verses, medicinal and culinary recipes and some with scientific notes or mathematical tables. According to Alan Jacobs in his article on the commonplace book , it dates back to the sixteenth century with paper becoming more widely available and cheaper. Jacobs writes that the development in printing technologies has had an influence in the popularity of the commonplace books. More books were being printed and made easily accessible to people; they had ‘more books than they could read, or at any rate read with care. Thus the need to select the best and wisest passages from those books’. The main content of this example is recipes and home remedies, an example of typical additions to be made to a commonplace book. An example of a commonplace book is obtained from ‘The scrapbook in American life’. This example is a scrapbook of household notes such as cooking recipes and home remedies. The book dates back
to 1855 and written about in the context of the case study of three generations of women of the same family. The blots of ink on both pages have a hidden story of their own; they may have been accidental blotches from when it was written of perhaps splashes or spillages from the book being used as a reference in cooking. As with other examples of commonplace books found, the handwriting is in different hands. In this case, it was started by Emily Sinkler and additions were later added by her daughter and then her granddaughter.
‘It dates back to the sixteenth century with paper becoming more widely available and cheaper.’
T
he commonplace book began to contain ephemeral pieces as printed material became more available, making the appearance resemble that of a scrapbook. Rob Walker explains: ‘In addition to written notations, newspaper clippings, photographs and the like, many contained actual scraps: soap labels, candy wrappers, bits of cloth, ticket stubs, envelopes.’ Only when there was abundance of easily procured printed material could individuals amass a large collection of images of their own choosing and the ideas of compiling them in a book must have arisen as a logical extension of scrapbook keeping Colour printing technologies provided a new range of materials available to the scrapbooker. According to Rickards, chromo-lithographed prints in the form of scraps originated in Germany in the early nineteenth century and spread throughout Europe and America as popular collectables. Collecting of ephemera became a hobby in itself with the scrapbook being the place to store the prints. These trends in collecting were a significant part of Victorian middle
class life, as described by Ellen Gruber Garvey: ‘Middle-class Victorian Americans were passionate collectors and classifiers. Collecting was praised as good training in observation and the valued skill of assigning and recognizing categories’. Rickards writes that the first scraps were not cutouts, but sheets of images to be later cut out as desired. Advertisements in the form of small cards were also produced by chromolithography, though intended to be ephemeral were used in Victorian scrapbooks. In discussing ephemera, Rickards writes about the album card which was a result of the chromolithography industry cashing in on ‘the 19th –century craze for scrapbooks’ and an increasingly acquisitive search for suitable material for inclusion in their pages’. Gruber Garvey outlines the many choices the scrapper of the 1800s had. The background could be cut from the image ‘with meticulous care’ or the commercial message could remain as part of the design. The layout is an assemblage of several chromolithographed scraps. The largest piece on the page is an image of a
young girl which appears to be an advertisement. A pattern scrap has been pasted over this beneath the image. Around the edges of the page are smaller scraps, some of flowers and butterflies, others of young girls. With colour images, the scrapboooker could create layouts which would represent the ‘compilers own family or his or her own desires.’ The creator of the Victorian scrapbook example or any of their personal details is unknown so this page does not read of their family story or explain a particular memory. However it gives an insight to the time it was created through the style of assemblage and use of Victorian material culture. As described by Snyder, scrapbookers applied the same fundamentals of the Victorian scrap album when using photography as ‘scraps’. Some scrappers of the time used snapshots in the form of cartes-de visite along with other scraps and patterns using family portraits to create ‘scenes that reflected their daily activities.’ The practice of collecting, compiling and assembling in creating a photograph album
has a direct link to that of scrapbook making. In discussing the use of printed cards and advertising in scrapbooks, Gruber Garvey makes a comparison to a different way of scrapbooking in the mid- nineteenth century. Advances in photography created a new material available to the scrapper, developing a new type of scrapbook. Rickards writes that by the end of the nineteenth century, ‘certain categories of ephemera [. . .] were often embellished with photographic prints.’ Before the facility of photography was made completely available to the scrapbooker, photographic prints could still be collected and used as ‘scraps’. With the use of family photographs however, the scrapbook maker could compile an actual account of their events in a visual narrative way without the need to improvise using commercial prints. The photo album, a compilation of photographic prints is a version of a scrapbook which is nearest in appearance to contemporary examples. Similar to scrapbooks, photo albums also exist in a range of differently bound formats. To sum up the content of this chapter, drawing from research and examining historical examples of what is described as variations of scrapbooking, the developing change in appearance is noted. From common place books to photograph albums, factors which affect the design of each include its time in history and available materials, factors which are heavily influenced by technology. Commercial printing allowed more books to be mass printed, leading to the development of the commonplace book. Further printing advances in chromolithography brought colour to the scrapbook and allowed for the production of specially printed ‘scraps’ to be compiled into books. Not only has technology been an issue discovered in this chapter, but also the commercial aspect of scrapbooking and the discovery that this topic does not only apply to modern scrapbooking. As described in The scrapbook in American life, commonplace books were sold with blank pages where the hobbyist could add their own notes. It was also gained from research, as written by Rickards, that nineteenth century printers recognized the trend in scrapbook making and ‘seizing the opportunity’ they produced printed images specifically for scrapbooking. Alongside the popularity of scrapbooking and developments in printing came the commercialization of the album itself.
THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPHS
T
he early twentieth century continued with further experimentations in photography and therefore further developments. This chapter examines the effects that these technological advances had on the scrapbook. No longer reliant solely on printed illustrations and ephemera, the scrapbooker’s access to photographs changed the appearance of scrapbooks. Variations of photographs in history will be described in appearance and in relevance to their place in the scrapbook of their time. Advances in photography throughout history have lead to the advances in scrapbooking. The first milestone of this timeline goes back to the nineteenth century. The year 1839 is the date given to the invention of photography. The idea of photography long proceeded that date but until then, no permanent photographic images had been produced. It is agreed in literature found on the subject that two different processes came to success at the same time with credit given to two men.
Wells writes: ‘These two men were the first to announce their findings publicly (in the appropriate scientific journals of the time, in Britain and France) in 1939.’ These photographic discoveries were the daguerreotype and the negative/positive process. The first, named after LouisJacques-Mandé Daguerre, who invented the technique in collaboration with Nicéphore Niépce. They discovered that when a silver-coated copperplate is exposed to light in a camera, then fumed with mercury and fixed a permanent image is formed. Daguerreotypes were most popular during the late 1840s to early 1850s, and rarely produced after 1860. The product of this labour was ornate 3D object described in photography from 1830 - today as ‘sharply defined, highly reflective, one-of-a-kind photographs.’ Except for paper-based images, most early photographs were customarily enclosed in miniature cases. Frequently containing portraits, cases protected Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes,
and even tintypes from light, moisture, pollution, and abrasion; they also allowed the photographs to be easily and safely carried about. Henry Fox Talbot is credited with the invention of the negative/positive or calotype process. The calotype is sometimes called a Talbotype. In this process, a single negative could produce multiple prints on to paper with a softer, less sharp image than the daguerreotype. With a negative being produced, it is possible to make multiple copies. With direct antecedent to modern photography this type of photograph would fit comfortably into a scrapbook. With the progression of techniques, the appearance of the printed photograph changed. In 1854, the carte-de visite was introduced. For the first time, multiple photographic images could be printed at once. Upon the introduction of the photo album in about 1860, the standard size of the carte-de visite was slightly reduced to be compatible with album pockets.’
Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography When investigating historical examples of scrapbooks, it can be seen that each example examined had its own function, though all different in appearance, each book was created in order to save or remember something. The presence of photographs in scrapbooks makes the memory of a particular time happen more instantly. The way in which a photograph is read affects what memory is triggered. Theoretical writers on this property of the photograph have applied terminology to such meanings. A key theorist of relevance here is Roland Barthes in his Camera Lucida. He argues the reality of the image discussing how the way the subject of the image is portrayed and seen by outsiders may not reflect the truth. In the book, Barthes searches for a photograph of his mother which truly shows her personality. He says that in photographs, people always smile and put on a pose, this does not necessarily mean they are happy: ‘I feel myself being observed by the lens, everything changes: I constitute myself in the process of “posing”, I instantaneously make another body for myself, I transform myself in advance into an image.’
THE PHOTOGRAPH | THE STORY An old family photograph is used here as an example of the many meanings it holds. Beginning with the physical qualities of the photograph, the small black and white image, (1.5”x1.5”) stands out as being old. When held in the hands, the creases in the image can be felt, crease marks which would have accumulated in time, wearing away parts of the print. The opposite side of the photographic paper, which I can only guess was one white, has turned yellow with age. The photograph also smells old, a musty cardboard smell, in a similar context, Elizabeth Edwards describes this smell as ‘the scent of pastness.’ Many factors give away the age of the photograph. It is displayed in a brass picture frame which is also small in size. Along with the physical properties, the place of the photograph in a scrapbook or album as a means of creating a keepsake relies on the memory it provokes and also how the image is read. Barthes investigates this and the effects of the photograph on the spectator and the lasting emotional effect of certain photographs. He uses the two terms Studium and Punctum to describe two different ways of reading a photograph. Studium being the primary reason to look at the photograph, denoting the obvious interpretation of the image. The term Punctum stands for the unintended reaction which interrupts the studium. An interview with Clare Kenny , a member of the family which is photographed begins with the first reaction to the photograph which is an emotional one. The image triggers remembrance of the two loved ones in the photo who have since passed away. The punctum in this case which as Barthes describes, ‘pricks’ Kenny is her recalling ‘how my mother would have been getting them all ready for the taking of this photograph’.