#LetsMakeWednesdays – Making memories!



September 2, 2020

Have you ever thought about your memories? Where do they go? What do they look like?

Let’s look at creative ways in which you could collect and share yours and your loved ones’ memories.

One great way to capture memories is with a scrapbook. Scrapbooking is a method of presenting and arranging pictures, drawings, words and sketches in the form of a book or a box. Scrapbooks can record memories of things that happened in the past, your life now, or what you would like to happen in the future. It can act like a personal journal, but instead of using only words, it includes pictures and drawings as well.

Let’s make a scrapbook of our memories and design one for the future.


Scrapbook page including collecting cards, advertising and ephemera
Book no. 2 by Eddie Squires, early 1970s. Mus no. E.1045-2000 © Victoria and Albert Museum

Let’s make a memory scrapbook!

Memories can be made of many things: maybe a fun holiday you went on, your favourite places to go with your friends, or a special time you spent with your family. Sometimes we come across things that remind us of these events. It could be a physical thing, like a ticket for a film you went to go see, or a memory that is tied to one of your senses: smells or sounds that remind you of a place.

Memories can be captured in many different ways. Your memories are important to you and can help you become who you are. The V&A takes care of many people’s memories, objects and artworks so that people like you can learn from them, find ideas and get inspired to be creative.

Start by writing down on paper some of your favourite memories. Who were you with? Where were you? Why was it special? This will help us make a scrapbook.

Next, take a piece of paper and write down one of your memories on the top. Now, start to gather some things that remind you of this moment. Make sure you ask first: you could use pictures cut out from old magazines or newspapers, scraps of fabric, photos, or even drawings you make or key words to help you remember.

Need some inspiration?

Below you can see a scrapbook by textile designer Eddie Squires in the 1970s. The scrapbook is a collection of personal memories and full of magazine clippings, photographs, fabric scraps, notes and drawings – all glued into a paper album.


Scrapbook page of personal material, original drawings and ephemera
Book no. 4 by Eddie Squires, 1975 – 77. Mus. no. E.1047-2000 © Victoria and Albert Museum

Book no. 1 by Eddie Squires, early 1970s. Mus. no. E.1044-2000 © Victoria and Albert Museum

Eddie Squires used collage for creating his scrapbook, a technique similar to that used by Barbara Nessim for capturing fashion icons and styles of her time.

Collage is a process of making art by sticking down different images, photographs, magazines and drawings to make a new picture.


Collage of a model's head
Young Icon collage by Barbara Nessim, 2009. Mus. no. E.73-2013 © Victoria and Albert Museum

You could remember your icons, favourite objects and images in a scrapbook by cutting out newspapers or magazines and gluing pictures on to a piece of paper together with photos and notes.

Let’s design the multi-sensory scrapbook of the future!

While paper scrapbooks are fun, what do you think scrapbooks will look like in the future? What do you think people 100 years from now will use to help them remember their fun events? How can you design something to record your memories for people in the future can experience them? It could be using new technology you invent, or something that exists today.

Museums can be a scrapbook of sorts: they are a space where we collect things from the past and present to help people understand more about lives throughout time.

When designing your future memory scrapbook, think about:

  • What could you use to capture what life is like today?
  • How could you include sounds, tastes and smells?
  • What are you families, friends and communities shared memories? How can you record lots of different points of view?
  • What do you want your scrapbook to look like?
  • How will it hold all your memories?
  • And finally can you invent a new technology that would make your scrapbook perfect for representing your memory?
Scrapbook by the Learning team
Our scrapbook of the future

Let’s play with memory!

Would you like to hear more about how to get creative with our memories?

Watch this video and get inspired by our former Videogame Designer in Residence Matteo Menapace telling you about how he hacked the card game Memory, creating his version called Fading Memories inspired by his own family history.

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Could your scrapbook of the future be in the form of a game? Maybe you could build your memory in a videogame like Minecraft or Animal Crossing? Or you could make it a tabletop game like snakes and ladders?

Memory created in Minecraft
‘Today I played in my living room with my dogs’ created by Martino, aged 8 in Minecraft for the V&A

Don’t forget to share your scrapbooks with us on social media using #LetsMakeWednesdays

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