A scrapbook compiled by Henry Gilbert. It contains mostly Christmas, New Year and birthday postcards received between 1885 and 1890, some with date, sender's name and message inscribed underneath. It also contains a few embossed chromolithographs, or scraps, of steam machines, pasted in a blank album published by Marcus Ward & Co.

Henry Gilbert was the son of William and grandson of Joseph Gilbert of Pewsey Vale. His mother Mary gave him the album in which to make his scrapbook in 1886. Scrapbooks were a popular activity; organising and arranging the scraps, or in this case the cards, could provide hours of quiet activity and stimulated artistic tendencies. It was an activity for quiet times, often on evenings or wet weekends.

Many scrapbooks were assembled in commercially available albums and the paper or thin card sheets in them have in many instances become brittle and discoloured with age, due to the acidity of the paper.

Henry Gilbert became a doctor, and later President and life governor of the Adelaide Children's Hospital.

Allen, Alistair. Scraps: one hundred and fifty years of stamped, embossed reliefs: Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood exhibition February-April 1977, [London]: H.M. Stationery Off., c1977

Morphett, George C. (ed.) The Gilberts of Pewsey Vale, Adelaide: Pioneers' Association of S.A., 1949

Children's Literature Research Collection: The Gilbert Collection

Duke University Library: More about scrapbooks

SAMemory: To be a child. Laura's scrapbook

SAMemory: To be a child. Robert's scrapbook

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing exhibitions. To be a child August 2004-