The scrapbook as an autobiographical memory tool

Abstract

This study explores how consumers collect, reconstruct, and protect autobiographical memories through the material possession of the scrapbook. Scrapbooking is a hobby that preserves photographs and mementos in an album decorated with narrative and ornamentation. Through 20 interviews with women who scrapbook, a framework was constructed to describe the types of memories preserved by the scrapbook, the modes of memory reconstruction cued by the scrapbook, and the memory protection strategies used by consumers. These memory protection strategies include overcollection of memory markers, overplanning of scrapbook aesthetics, increased journaling, and taboos on altering or removing scrapbook pages. Theoretical implications are provided.