Abstract
This essay explores how everyday lives, institutional histories, and collective activities in East Germany are preserved through the material format of the album as well as professional and amateur photographs. It will discuss how the album was used to document the immediate present as it happened, how the album itself acts as a repository of memories meant for future generations, and how these visual and textual records are part of a larger cultural practice of documentation. A selection of East German photo albums and Brigadebücher (brigade scrapbooks) demonstrate that individuals, organizations, groups, and institutions frequently used albums to chronicle a range of activities from camping trips of the Freie Deutsche Jugend or FDJ (Free German Youth) to family vacations. Additionally, they served different purposes, from providing a record of family life to preserving the nation's industrial heritage. The diverse uses of the album together with professional and amateur photographs permit contemporary scholars and students to understand how this medium assisted in shaping a collective identity for East Germans on both an official and individual level through personal experiences.
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