According to a survey released at the 2002 Hobby Industry Association Convention & Trade Show, annual sales of scrap-book supplies in the past five years have skyrocketed from $200 million to $1.4 billion. Maybe you're among the tens of thousands of Family Tree Magazine readers who've caught the scrapbooking bug and created memory and heritage albums to preserve and share your family history finds.

But the current fascination with scrapbooks isn't entirely new. Nobody knows exactly how old this hobby is, but scholars trace its origins to the 17th century, when notes and prints were kept in albums. In the 19th century, "scrap" referred to colorful bits of paper that included product labels and greeting cards and even some papers created just for the scrapbook craze of the Victorian era. No one was immune to the lure of the scrapbook: Men, women and children compiled scrapbooks using purchased blank books or their own handmade books. These 19th-century scrapbookers collected mementos of friendships and paper memorabilia from their daily lives. They kept track of occurrences, quotes, recipes, knitting swatches and anything else they were interested in.