Back in the 15th century there were books known as commonplace books. These books were used to record information, such as weights, poems, medical formulas and prayers. Instead of trying to remember all of this information, it was written into a commonplace book. Commonplace books were used by students to record the information learned.

Over time commonplace books also held newspaper articles, recipes and illustrations. Commonplace books were a way to share information.

There were also friendship albums that were created and given as gifts. Young women in the Victorian period often created memory books or visitors albums filled with signatures, scrap, cards, hair, handwriting, poetry, and even photographs of their family and friends. Again, these were a way of sharing with others, and of preserving memories.

Mark Twain was an avid scrapbooker. He devoted entire Sundays to this hobby and then sold his books through Montgomery Ward.

Thomas Jefferson kept leather-bound books filled with news clippings, drawings, dried leaves and other memorabilia.

In the 1970s Roots was introduced by Alex Haley, and a huge interest in genealogy was born. This interest in genealogy led to people wanting to capture their heritage.

In the 80s and 90s scrapbooking began to get more and more popular, and today we have a wide variety of scrapbooking choices, with color choices, embellishment choices and even tool choices.