Scrapbooks from a time gone by
The practice of cutting out items of interest and putting them onto blank pages is characteristic of scrapbook makers throughout the world. While scrapbooking is sometimes seen as a contemporary phenomenon, the term scrap-book first appeared in the English language in 1825, and books with similar characteristics were made as early as the 15th century. A current exhibition at Auckland Libraries’ Sir George Grey Special Collections highlights these treasures and is well worth a visit.
In the Archive at the Kinder Library, we have a range of scrapbooks that form part of specific collections and which vary in content from the records of organizations through to early personal papers of missionaries and notable Anglicans and Methodists.
Typically, contemporary scrapbooks include a mixture of photographs, news clippings, sketches, handwritten comments and autographs. The type of scrapbooks used for the task varies from solid bound leather volumes through to colourfully designed soft-cover formats.
The scrapbook featured, is part of the St John’s College Students’ Association records [SJC 4/5/7] and was compiled by their 1960 Social Committee.
A comment alongside the Saturday Night ! Common Room sketch included this advice:
“On Sat. 12 March, 1960, we were favoured with a talk from one of our first- year men Barry Allum. Notes for future! When using a small projector, make sure the speaker does not block the view of persons on one side whilst he gives his commentary …”
You can find more of the Scrapbook collection here on Pūmototmoto.