Humorist Mark Twain is widely beloved for his many contributions to American literature. Socialite Paris Hilton used to make headlines in the tabloids with regularity, but has largely faded from the spotlight. So what could they possibly have in common? Apparently, they shared a favorite hobby.
Both Paris Hilton and Mark Twain were scrapbookers.
Twain was described as a “lifelong creator and keeper of scrapbooks” by PBS, who also noted that “he took them with him everywhere and filled them with souvenirs, pictures, and articles about his books and performances.” Hilton, meanwhile, made waves in the scrapbooking community in 2009 when she released a line of scrapbooking supplies called “Paris Creativity,” which included a lot of pink and glitter.
And while there was some debate over whether or not Hilton herself actually enjoyed scrapbooking — or if she was just trying to cash on the crafty trend — she was spotted with a scrapbook in her hand at least once by TMZ.
However, whereas scrapbooking doesn’t actually seem to have made Hilton much money (as evidenced by the fact that Paris Creativity was discontinued after less than a year, and that the only place to find any of the pieces is on eBay), scrapbooking was surprisingly lucrative for Twain. He even went as far as patenting something he called a “self-pasting” scrapbook; the patent went on to make him $50,000 — more than any other invention, and about 25% of what he made on book sales.
Think you’re ready to start join the ranks of Mark Twain and Paris Hilton? We’ve got some scrapbooking courses you might be interested in.
