In the years I’ve worked in the Digitization Centre, we’ve had the opportunity to scan a number of scrapbooks, diaries, albums and commonplace books. Scrapbooks in particular require much more hands on work to manage the many complexities presented. Each scrapbook presents its own complexities, from layered articles or inserted pamphlets that require multiple scans to capture, to brittle pages or clippings, to unexpected contents, to the many ways items are glued, taped, stapled or pinned to pages.
Many of these scrapbooks are oversize and virtually all of them are scanned on our large format TTI deck using the Betterlight scanback equipment. The equipment scans slowly, each scan takes on average 7.5 minutes for oversize items like these, but adding in the time it takes to reposition material and take multiple scans of each page to capture all of the contents, a 100 page scrapbook typically takes anywhere from 15 to 25 hours of staff time.

Most recently, I worked on a series of scrapbooks from the Reed Erickson collection as part of the Trans Archives that feature many of the complexities we typically find in these objects. I thought I would take the time to go through some of them here:
- Size — the Reed Erickson scrapbooks are a series of nine scrapbooks, the first one was large but not necessarily oversize, so I could still place it on the scan bed perpendicular to the lights so they would not cast a shadow in the middle. The remainder are very much oversize, requiring the camera to be raised to almost its highest point (1100 out of 1200). When open, these larger scrapbooks are almost a full metre wide. This makes for very time consuming scans on the equipment we use.
- Degraded adhesives — time is not kind to adhesives. Items that were affixed using clear tape, especially in the 1960s – 1970s, will likely have pulled free of the page as the adhesive has dried out. Additionally, the clear tape has a habit of yellowing, which can impact the readability of any part of the material that was affixed. Likewise, some glue may bleed through the original pages and may discolor over time. Conversely, if items were glued using a wet adhesive and not pressed flat, they may be wrinkled in ways that cannot be corrected.
- Rusted staples, paper clips, or pins — older staples, paper clips, or drawing pins used to secure materials in scrapbooks frequently show signs of rust at the point of entry through the paper or leave a rusty imprint. If you are scanning material you own outright, it may be best in the interest of preservation to remove these from the object after documenting where they were used. However, if you cannot remove them, extra care should be taken in handling.
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fragile, degraded paper must be handled with extra care Fragile paper — newsprint tends to age poorly, yellowing over time and becoming brittle. Special care needs to be used when approaching any folded pages as the fold lines often break when opened. Staff also need to be aware that paper dust will be more prevalent and may require a dust mask while working with it. Aside from newsprint, one sometimes finds paper that was used for mimeographs, thermal fax machines, or receipt paper. The print on this paper may fade or blacken over time, making the text unreadable. Additionally, the paper of the scrapbook itself may become brittle, worn, or torn so even turning pages requires special care and attention.
- Fragile contents — sometimes contents are especially fragile, such as the scrapbook full of pressed seaweed samples. Scanning these takes additional care, not to disturb the contents or over expose the botanical specimens to bright light. While paper presents its own challenges, storing pressed flowers, fabric scraps, matchbooks, or other materials present entirely new challenges for digitizing and have to be considered case by case.
- Layered clippings — this is the real time consuming task — folding back the many layered clippings on a page or across pages. Sometimes, layers may be stuck together due to glue seepage, exposure to excess moisture, or simply that they were glued purposely overlapping. Where we are unable to expose the material below a layer, we make a note in the readme file for reference in case a researcher inquires about the obscured material.
- Inserts and loose material — in addition to clippings, one may find pamphlets or other ephemera affixed or tucked into pages and it is our job when digitizing to ensure that as much is captured as possible (i.e. if the back cover has been glued to the page, there is no way to scan it). Sometimes loose material may be either continuations of news clippings, or may be parts that have become separated over time, torn away along fold lines for example. Sometimes, inserts may exceed the size of the scrapbook once unfolded. For these items, we need to support them so that they are level with the attached page and remain in context.
- Weak or relaxed binding — weak binding means constantly repositioning material on the scan deck as each page turn falls in a different position, but it is preferred over binding that is too tight. For scrapbooks in particular, it may mean that some material is difficult to capture if it has been glued too far into the binding or across pages that have pulled apart.
Despite all of these complexities, I love the challenge of scanning scrapbooks. I am always amazed by the time people took to collect materials together for reference in the days before ephemera became digital and I recognize the privilege we have in being able to make these digitally available now. As always, researchers may wish to come in and view the original objects to fully glean the context of the contents, but most of their rich content can be presented online when care and attention is taken by digitization staff.
Some scrapbooks in our collection:
Trans Archives – Reed Erickson (9 scrapbooks), University of Ulster – Adele Anderson (13 scrapbooks)
Frank and Cecelia Sylvester – Frank Sylvester’s Commonplace Book; Cecelia Davies Sylvester’s Scrapbook
Edward Morell Holmes Herbarium (botanical specimens)
W.O.H. Dodds scrapbook (First World War)
László Hudec scrapbook 1 and scrapbook 2 (architecture)
Saul Holiff’s Personal Scrapbook (music management, including Johnny Cash)
As of January 2025, we have 55 digitized objects classed as scrapbooks you can browse, and we add more each year.
Note: the Wool scrapbook pictured in the photo album with the yellowed adhesives is not currently online. I will update this post when it becomes available.