Photo Albums and Scrapbooks

Make a photo album or scrapbook to illustrate a theme from Lincoln’s life and legacy.

Abraham Lincoln was the most photographed man of his time.  In addition to the many images shot of the president, there were pictures of his wife, children, and even pets!  According to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Lincoln family had several photo albums while they were living in Springfield.  This small accordion-file album is inspired by one at the Lincoln Home.

Supplies for each scrapbook
• 1 sheet of black construction paper, 9 x 12 inches
• Two 3 ½ -inch squares of black posterboard
• Pencil
• Glue stick
• Gold gel or glitter pen or gold paper or fabric trim
• 15-inch piece of 3/8-inch black ribbon
• Masking tape

Equipment
• Paper cutter
• Scissors

Directions
1. Use the paper cutter to cut the sheet of construction paper into three 3 x 12-inch strips.
2. Accordion-fold each strip in quarters.
3. Glue the folded strips together by overlapping the last and first squares.  The result should be a long accordion-folded strip.
4. Use the two posterboard squares for the covers. 
5. Glue the first block of the strip to the back of the front cover.
6. Decorate the cover with the gold pen.
7. Center the ribbon vertically on the inside back cover and attach with masking tape.
8. Glue the last block of the folded strip to the inside back cover, covering the taped ribbon.

The custom of gluing memorabilia into books is centuries old.  Through the years both men and women have created scrapbooks on all kinds of topics. The library of Congress owns a scrapbook Abraham Lincoln assembled to document his 1858 Senate campaign.  The Kentucky Historical Society owns one created by Mary Todd Lincoln’s half-sister Emilie Todd Helm about her husband’s role in the Civil War.  In the years—and decades—following Lincoln’s assassination, many Americans created Lincoln scrapbooks.  Children can make this oblong, ribbon-bound scrapbook to illustrate Lincoln’s life or a more focused theme.

Supplies for each scrapbook
• 2 pieces of black posterboard, 6 x 11 inches
• 8 pieces of white paper,  5 ½  x 11 inches
• Three 12-inch pieces of ½-inch ribbon
• Gold or colored gel markers
• Pictures and other “scraps” from the Web to illustrate the theme
• Glue stick

Equipment
• Hole punch
• Scissors

Directions
1. Choose a theme for the scrapbook and search the Web for images to download and print.
2. Punch three holes along the 6 inch sides of the posterboard and the 5 ½ inch side of the white paper.
3. Stack a sheet of black paper, all the white paper, and the second sheet of black paper, and tie the ribbons through the holes to make the book.
4. Use the gold markers to create a decorative border on the cover and letter the title of the theme.
5. Glue pictures on the white pages and add explanatory text.