It was hard, but I found a photo online of the style of Trapper Keeper I had in elementary school. If this is your photo and would like me to take it down or credit you, please let me know.

Trapper Keepers were the bomb when I was in elementary school. I only had one, and I only had it for a year or two until it wore out. But mine looked like the above, grey with kittens on it.

I feel like some people forget why Trapper Keepers are named that. The folders that went inside them were called Trappers, and the Keeper held them all in. (The folder was special in that the paper didn’t fall out if they were closed, unlike conventional folders. This was revolutionary at the time.)

The Trapper Keepers had an interesting three-ring binder system that was plastic and slid open to the side instead of being metal and forcefully popping open and closed.

The Trapper Keepers didn’t have a huge capacity, though, and I quickly overfilled mine. But rather than take out some of the material (that literally didn’t occur to me), I stopped being able to close it with the Velcro closure just a few months into the school year. I had to tuck the flap around the contents, and just hold it as closed as I could.

I miss the simplicity of that time, with my Trapper Keeper full of assigned short creative writing stories and timed times tables tests (say that three times fast). But back when I was in the midst of it, it was sufficiently challenging.

Though my Trapper Keeper is long gone, I do still have the bag I used for school back then, so at least that’s something. It’s made of canvas and is really sturdy and I’m sentimental. Plus, you don’t get rid of bags! I mean, really.

As usual, if you want to support my efforts at this blog, please consider buying your Amazon purchases through this affiliate link where I receive some financial benefit. Or go right to the source and send me money through PayPal. No pressure, though.