This past week, Mrs Barbara Bush was laid to rest at 92, “Americas Grandmother” and beloved wife of 72 years to her Husband, mom of six children, grandma to many grandchildren and lover of dogs. I loved Mrs. Bush, I thought she was a great inspiration for women of all ages and stages, I wish I could have had the chance to meet her. Did you also know she was a scrapbooker? Yes, the former First Lady of the United States was an avid memory keeper. A video posted from television station KAGStv.com Shared glimpses of Ms. Bushes scrapbooks .
She saved letters, photographs, programs and newspaper clippings all lovingly pasted into many, many albums. She was an avid photographer, documenting her family and her travels which I am sure also found her way into her scrapbooks. A small gallery of her photographs can be found here on her website.
Some of Mrs Bushes books are now part of the Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. I’m sure many more of them are being enjoyed by her children, grandchildren and friends.
as an aside… I have never really researched First Ladies and there are SO MANY interesting sites and resources out there. The Site https://www.whitehousehistory.org is fascinating and has a lovely tribute to Barbara Bush as of this writing.
As Mrs Bushes memory keeping shows, it’s a gift and a joy to take photos, tell stories and share them with those we love. Do you need to have your own paper conservator for your memories? Not at all, the most important thing is getting those memories, photos and stories out of boxes, envelopes, slides, negatives, whatever the format, and unite them with their stories. Feeling like you don’t know where to start with your memories?
For a little encouragement, may I present my first scrapbook:
I have to say, I’ve come quite a long way since those pages of documentation! Today, not only am I documenting my own family stories and working on the “Family Archives” of antique scrapbooks, photographs and papers and more contemporary photos and slides… I helping clients preserve their memories and tell their stories. At Modern Memorykeeper we can create beautiful memories out of boxes of photo chaos….and sometimes all it takes is finding one old scrapbook to start.
Professional Photo Organizing with Modern Memorykeeper, LLC. 