I tend to have a negative opinion of frivolous scrapbooking done as a hobby (another hobby made possible by cheap energy and resources, possible for the bored affluent few). But having a scrapbook for the sake of passing one's history onto one's children, that seems to be a reasonable and easy-to-do project, one that can even be an educational (as well as creative) experience for the children. It would be better than a time capsule.
Such a scrapbook would be filled with less than the typical family photo album (well, our family photo albums at least), and may even have small keepsakes and mementos, too. Perhaps we are too dependent upon photos, but why not make use of them while we have them? Being able to see and identify one's family members (and knowing where they come from and where they are buried). It might be better to be able to pass stories about family down orally, but oral history can also supplement written history, can't it? A photo with a detailed caption recording the occasion of the photo, or some memory that doesn't necessarily have to be associated with the photo in any way, or in only a weak way. (And yes, we should recover story-telling as well, of which a participant over at Chronicles, Mr. Robert Peters, is a noteworthy example.)
We should go beyond genealogy as much as possible, learning about our family members while they are alive and from others. This may be difficult if you no longer live where they were born or used to live, or have lost those personal networks that they developed. This is probably a problem for many Uhmericans. But a small effort is better than nothing, and it can strengthen a real identity over the false, mass-marketed nationalist identity given through our "public" institutions.
Jeffrey Tucker: The Mistakes of Historians
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