GRANDMA’S SCRAP BOOK

 

Our small town has a local newspaper which is published once a week. It has reported our local news since 1874.

Grandma Bert -hubby’s Grandma-  started a scrap-book in 1930 of local articles from this newspaper, and above is a small peak of her book. Each article careful cut from the weekly newspaper then pasted, hand dated on the top of each article or announcement and carefully placed into the pages of her scrap-book.

In 1980, I somehow became the keeper of the memory book. It came with a box full of articles that had not yet been added to the pages of her book. I can’t recall why she stopped pasting them in her scrap-book and yet continued to carefully cut articles from the paper, but for what ever reason I became the keeper of the book/box of memories.

We so enjoy bringing the scrap-book out and reading all the articles she carefully chose to put in her book. Most articles relate to family, friends, weddings, births, graduations and death. It also has information about events that happened in our small town ranging from military calls to duty and sadly the death of many service men, to car accidents, shootings, fire’s, women’s club meeting  and in 1941 a new fire truck replaces the 1923 model and the headline reads, Old gives way to new for Fire Department.   

A small history book  centered around a small town where she grew up and raised her own children. Information that generations down the line would never know had it not been for this tiny women who loved scrap-booking in its earliest form. There are no fun boarders, no cute little caption or frills they now do in scrap-booking. It’s plain brown paper, almost sack like paper, stitched in a brown hard cover book which has raised letters that simple reads, SCRAP BOOK on the lower right hand corner. Perhaps purchased at the local five and dime store, or a gift from someone.

Since this months theme is Connect, I thought it was a perfect. What a wonderful connection a scrap-book is to the past and a true gift for those generations to come. Rather it be as elaborate as scrap-booking is today or as primitive as Grandma’s scrap-book it is a small picture of a families past. A gift that will continue on and on and on……….

Just as pieces stitched together in a quilt warm our bodies, scrapbooks bind together memories to warm our hearts. ~Author Unknown

     My goal for this coming year is to finish Grandma’s Scrap-book and at some point pass it on; This cherished book of memories handed off to a younger member of the family who I hope will continue adding pages to connect one generations to another about family, friends and life in a small town.