There are many types of Tribute albums--milestone birthday, retirement, a significant event, etc. Memorial and Tribute Albums are similar except Tribute Albums honor someone who is still living. This file has a list of things that can be used in various types of Tribute and Memorial Albums. Also see Heritage Albums, Journaling, Memorial Poems, Memorial Albums and New Years.

Memorabilia and Photo Ideas for Tribute and Memorial Albums

These lists should spark plenty of ideas.

Averages

• Costs: House, car, movie, apartment rental, pets, sporting event, concert, stamp, train ride, food, candy, gum-ball, film and developing, gas, pay phone call, video rental, CD, doctor and dentist visit, hairstyle, manicure, pedicure, facial, newspaper, plane ticket, one year of college, etc.
• People (life expectancy, height/weight)
• Families (average size, location)
• Insurance  (average cost for car, homeowner, life, health)

Awards/Achievements

• Trophies
• Certificates

Challenges

• Hardest jobs
• Phobias
• Set Back
• Natural Disasters (tornado, flood, etc.)

Children/Grandchildren

• Portrait (for personal info page)
• Activities (music lessons, sports, video games, dance lessons, tutoring, etc.)
• School (teacher, class, building, report cards, art work, books, projects/papers, doing homework)
• Children holding artwork (easier than including as memorabilia)
• Child's weight, length and other measurements at birth or while growing up
• Names considered for a baby
• Color copies of children's artwork

Church

• People: fellow members, clergy, committee members
• Building, inside and out; flowers, stained glass windows
• Signs
• Programs
• Number of parishioners
• Day Sabbath is observed
• Special food/rituals/customs

Celebrations

• Birthdays
• Anniversaries
  
• Baptisms
• Memorial services
• Graduations

Communication

• Video
• TV (equipment, TV programs, 'screens shots')
• VCR (equipment, tapes, video store)
• Audio
• Radio, stereo, CD (equipment, tapes, cassettes, CDs, speakers)
• General Media
• Newspapers - clippings, cartoons, comics, front page on certain date
• Print
• Magazines (covers)
• Advertising (TV, billboards, magazines, newspapers, new car, electronics, clothing)
• Newsletter from school, club, etc.
• Computers (hardware, software, scanner, fax, color copier, laptops, WWW)
• Phones (home, cell)
• Email - how it affected your life

Community

• Downtown, Village Hall, Chamber of Commerce
• Post office, bank, library/librarians
• Town signs with population/name
• Fire department (firefighters, trucks, sleeping quarters, dining area)
• Police station  (squad cars, dispatch, officers, holding cell, fingerprint area)
• County: court house
• Construction site
• Skyline (downtown/suburban)
• Shopping (Grocery store  - outside, inside, cashier, aisles of food, produce section; Shopping centers - signs, storefronts, favorite stores, security guards, fountains, displays, you/family shopping)
• Community gathering places (town hall, parks, schools, shopping centers)
• Landmark sites (if available, use postcards)
• Brochures (city, Chamber of Commerce)      
• Maps (town, city, state, country, world)

Community Service

• Community agencies
• People in service
• Personal volunteer activities

Daily Life

• Highlight from each month
• Daily schedule or routine (work, home, school)
• Chores
• House or classroom rules
• To-do lists from a typical day
• Groups, clubs, organizations and sports teams
• Recreation, fun, hobbies, collections
• Work-related accomplishments
• Chronology of jobs in their life
• Prices of gas, groceries and tuition
• Receipt from grocery store, paycheck stub, utility bills, voided personal check

Entertainment

• Movie theater  (marquee, interior, ticket taker, concession worker, prices, ticket stubs)
• Video store (inside and out, cashier, displays)
• Audio (Music; Cassette and CD covers; Cassette and CD equipment, radio stations)
• Community (parks, zoos)
• Books (you/family reading, favorite books, library trip, book store, library card)
• Theater
• Museum
• Theme Park
• Concert
• Internet
• TV shows and actors
• Sports champs (World Series, Wimbledon, Winston Cup, Super Bowl, NBA, Tour de France)
• Sports teams- school/local/national teams, #1 teams, players' salaries
• Awards/Winners: Oscars, Grammies, Emmys, etc.

Events/Places

• Favorite destinations
• Service projects
• Chronology of Christmases and birthdays
• Chronology of places lived
• Birthday or Christmas gifts
• Vacations or travels
• World events
• Movies and entertainment

Family

• Groups and individuals (as extended as possible)
• Family Tree

Famous Faces

• Photos from magazines, TV, newspaper, Web sites

Favorites:

• Activities
• Animal
• Artist
• Author
• Board Game
• Book
• Candy
• Car
• Card Game
• Cartoons
• Clothing
• Color
• Cookie
• Dessert
• Flower
• Food
• Friend
• Fruit
• Games
• Hobby
• Holiday Tradition
• Ice Cream
• Local place to go
• Movie
• Movie Star
• Music Group
• Musical Instrument
• Painting
• Poem
• Poet

Feelings

• What you're thankful for
• Goals and resolutions
• Things you love about a person, thing, hobby or place
• Beliefs and philosophies
• Lessons learned in life
• Advice to younger generations
• Phobias
• Hopes for the future (your future or the future of the world

Finance/Business

• Stock market (Dow Jones, etc.)
• Companies (national or local)
• Advertising/commercials
• Products
• An Inflation Calculator is in the Business file.

Food

• Favorites
• Typical home meal menus
• Restaurants (favorites, inside/outside, menus, signs)
• Grocery receipts (every day and from special events or holidays like Thanksgiving)
• Fresh, organic, genetic engineering
• A list of food products introduced in the 20th century is in the Food file.

For Fun

• This can include anything you do for fun - see Entertainment, Hobbies, etc.

Friends and Neighbors

• Relationship, location, name, age, date
• Stamps from Christmas cards
• Greeting cards

Future

• A letter to future generations with your dreams, goals and plans.

Headlines/Media

• Print headlines from web sites
• Copies of newspaper articles on acid-free buff colored paper

Hobbies

• There are hundreds of things that could be included

Holiday Traditions

• Have scrapbook pages at gatherings (birthday, anniversary, graduation, shower or going away party) and encourage people to write messages to the guest.
• Have scrapbook pages at holiday events. Write a sentence starter at the top (I'm thankful for....; my favorite Christmas tradition is....; my favorite memory of Uncle Harry is....) and have people finish the sentence.
• Have scrapbook pages at memorial services with sentence starters (My favorite memory of Uncle Harry is....; The best thing I liked about Uncle Harry was....). Depending on your family you might want to use alternatives (My least bad memory of Uncle Harry is....; The thing that most irritated me about Uncle Harry was....)

Home/House

• Outside (garden, decks, play areas)
• Inside (rooms, floor plan, play areas, bulletin boards, teenagers on the phone)
• Other family members' homes (grandparent, aunt, cousin)
• Utilities (Electricity - fuse box, meter, bill; Gas - meter, bill; Cable - wiring, bill; Phone - equipment, bill
• Service (trash collector, newspaper delivery, UPS/FedEx, gardener)
• Mailbox, mail carrier
• Repair
• Wallpaper samples, paint chips
• Mortgage info (lender, amount, monthly payment, how paid)

Hospital

• Hospital bed/crib
• Hospital room
• Special clothing
• Hands/feet (old and young)
• Hands/feet comparison with other family/friends
• Statistics (weight, height/length, Apgar)
• Special medical treatments, procedures, routines (meals, etc.)
• Nurses/doctors
• Front of hospital
• Medical documents (birth/death certificate, bill)

Miscellaneous ideas

• Medical history
• Traditions (everyday or holiday)
• Collections
• Hang out spots
• What makes you crazy
• What makes you laugh
• Most embarrassing moments
• Sequence (before and after shots)
• Prized possessions (bikes, cars, trophies, sports cards)
• Especially For Kids: What do you want to be when you grow up; School Subject; Toys and games

Our World

• Important world events (and your reactions)
• Stamps
• Coins/$bills
• Endangered animals
• Population: City/town, state, county, country, world
• Politicians: president, vice president, congressmen and senators (state and federal), governor, mayor, city council
• World affairs
• Headlines
• Weather trends (El Nino, average temp per season)
• Biggest news stories of the year (national, international, local)
• Town/state/national bird, tree, flower, etc.
• Town/state/national flag

People

• Personal traits/statistics
• Chronology of closest friends/family throughout life
• Friends during a certain period of time
• Guest list from a special event (such as birth, wedding, graduation, birthday, etc.)
• People worked with
• Attributes of a particular person (see Bio-Poem)
• People admired and why
• House guests
• Special skills or talents
• Former boy friends or girl friends

Personal

• Your family
• Community/local
• National
• International
• Taxes (sales, Social Security, federal, state, income)
• Prices (gallon of gas, postage stamp, gallon of milk, house, car)

Pets

• Popular pets
• Your Pets (type, gender, breed, color, habits, favorite stories)
• Veterinarian

Philosophy

• Advice to younger generations
• Beliefs and philosophies
• Goals and resolutions
• Lessons learned in life
• Things you love about another person, thing, hobby or place
• What you're thankful for
• Wish lists - Christmas, birthday or the future

Products

• Product packaging (Coke can, etc.)
• Advertisements (TV, magazines, billboards, etc.)

Recreation

• Workout/gym/playground
• Hobbies
• Pastimes
• Camping
• Vacation
• Travel (travel brochures, ticket stubs, itineraries, matchbooks, maps)
• Membership cards to clubs
• Sports (trading cards or other collectibles, magazines, programs)

Responsibilities/Tasks

• On the job
• At home

School

• Teachers (music, art, gym, etc.)
• Other staff (crossing guard, coach, secretary, custodian, librarian, principal)
• Interior (lunch room, classroom)
• Pre-school, grammar, middle, high school
• Higher Education (trade schools, community colleges, universities)
• Exterior (building, track, football field, event signage, name sign)
• Equipment (buses, play, sports)
• Classes (subjects studied)
• Activities during recess
• All the different things he/she wanted to be when they grew up
• Different majors in college
• Different schools attended
• Report cards

Services

• Bank  (inside, drive thru, tellers, statements, ATM, deposit slip)
• Dentist (receptionist, dental assistant, dentist, waiting room, exam room)
• Doctor  (receptionist, nurse, doctor, waiting room, exam room)
• Dry Cleaners/Laundromat
• Hair salon/barber (inside and outside, stylist, you getting styled, manicurist)
• Tax person
• Workout facility (health club, YMCA, etc.)

Shopping

• Receipts  (grocery store, major purchases, clothes, gas)
• Stores 

Technology/Science

• Computers, Internet
• DVD, etc.
• Space exploration
• Printouts of personal or business websites

Transportation

• Vehicles (photos, license plates, dealership, insurance, service/maintenance)
• Service station (price sign, etc.)
• Train (station, passenger train, freight train, conductor, ticket seller, schedule)
• DMV  (long lines, building outside, driver's license)
• Air (airport, fares, planes, security, bag check, ticket agent, flight attendants, pilot, ticket)
• Other (ell, subway, trolley, cable car, taxi)
• Water (boats, ships, ferry)

Trends/fads

• Clothing (photos of you or your family, celebrities, designers, catalogs)
• Toys or Dolls (Beanie Babies, Barbies, etc.)
• Games
• Sayings/slang
• Mail order catalogs (fashion, music, toys)
• Baby Names
• Dance

Work/Career

• Desk or work area
• Boss, co-workers
• Building, lunch room
• Careers over your life time
• Job chronology
• Business cards
• Work memorabilia (letters, memos, notices)
• Check stubs
• Unrealized goals
• Most important achievements

NOTE: Photos of signs makes great identifiers in many of the categories.

(Some of the above is from Creative Keepsakes magazine, March/April 1999.)