Scrapbooks, An American History by Jessica Helfand

I found this when I was cleaning the Oversize section (it's most definitely not and will be moved).  It looked really interesting, so I added it to my summer reading pile.

After The Jazz of Physics, I felt like I needed a picture book.

This WAS really interesting.  The author collected and photographed/scanned actual scrapbooks, a dying art, and then researched the genealogy/local history of the former owner.  It is another way to access and view American history, via primary source documents and artifacts.

I'm a big fan of using primary sources in telling our history.  And no, not because I'm a librarian.  There is just SOMETHING about holding an actual piece of history, seeing the real handwriting, knowing the history behind the object or letter or photograph....all of which are disappearing in our increasingly digital word.  How many people handwrite letters now?  They're typed, or texted, or emojied.  Our photos are no longer physical.  They're facebooked, instagrammed, snapchatted, and sent to our Google or Apple photo storage clouds. 

Scrapbooks collected pictures, newspaper article clippings, ticket stubs, lists, etc. and put them together to tell a person or event's story.  Scrapbooks, An American History puts such together to tell our story by year, place, and societal realm.

I am definitely going to remind our U.S. History teachers we have this book in our collection!

Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
Tweet what you're reading #whhssummerread

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.