The Picard family album, having just survived the destruction of the USS Enterprise-D
The Picard family album was a leather-bound album owned by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The album had the Picard family coat of arms on its front cover, and contained photographs of his ancestors, along with records of famous events, and information from his own personal history. (Star Trek Generations; Star Trek Nemesis)
In the mid-24th century, Jean-Luc Picard took over adding things to the album, adding such things as certificates regarding Picard winning the Starfleet Academy marathon and the Silver Spade, and a picture of Picard with Wesley Crusher. (Star Trek Nemesis)
Picard reviewing his family album
In 2371, after receiving news that his brother Robert and nephew René had died in a fire at the Picard home in La Barre, Picard looked through the album in his quarters aboard the USS Enterprise-D with Deanna Troi. The album was later placed in his ready room, where it was recovered after the crash landing of the Enterprise's saucer section on Veridian III. (Star Trek Generations) Picard kept the album with him following his assignment to the USS Enterprise-E.
New actors were cast to play Captain Picard's family, specifically Robert and René, so the new actors' pictures appear in the photo album.
In 2379, after realizing that Shinzon strongly resembled him at a younger age, Picard looked through the album again, finding an image of himself at the Academy that looked exactly like Shinzon. (Star Trek Nemesis)
Background information[]
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While only one two-page spread was seen in each of the two movies it appeared in, many more pages were created. These pages were highlighted in the Star Trek Generations (Special Edition) DVD special feature "Picard's Family Album". Of the three copies of the Picard family album, the master was kept in the The History of the Future Museum exhibition, part of the Star Trek: The Experience attraction, where Curator Penny Juday flipped the pages whenever she could, so visitors could see something a little different every time.
Certificates and graphics for the album were designed by Geoffrey Mandel, Alan Kobayashi and Penny Juday. (Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 2, p. 143)
Many of the production staff put in pictures of themselves and their ancestors, such as a photograph of Production Designer Herman Zimmerman and his father. Also included in the album were several "in-jokes" from Star Trek history, such as a photo of Director Leonard Nimoy with a young Spock, David Marcus, and Saavik from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
The inside of the front cover of the album had pictures of the founders of the Picard / La Barre family line, Madame de La Barre and Françoise de Picard. On the front of the first page was an ancient family tree, L'arbore de Famille des Familles, Picard et La Barre Ville de Saumur, featuring various family coats of arms as they married into the family, going several generations back.
Other portraits in the beginning pages of the book included Picard VIII Comte de Holl and Picard XXII Comte de Holl.
There were also several family photos from a wedding in the late 19th century in the Picard family. And in later French history, there were French army war medals taped in the album, as well as portraits of French generals with the name Picard. One of the portraits featured was actually that of World War I French army marshal Ferdinand Foch.
20th century photographs that were put in the album include families and French sailing ships, as well as images from World War II veterans.
A two-page spread
A newspaper article read "Sur les ondes – Picard pour une « alliance confiante » UDF-RPR." ("Picard for a 'trusted alliance' UDF-RPR"), implying that a Picard was a political figure in the 1980s or 1990s.
Another section contained information from the 22nd and early 23rd centuries. This section featured a newspaper article noting the Romulans being pushed back in the Battle of Cheron, and another commemorating the first Federation Day, from the founding of the United Federation of Planets.
Also included were several awards won by Picards, such as the Terran Winemakers Association Certificate of Excellence won by Maurice Picard in 2305.
An award won by Jean-Luc Picard
Among the things Picard apparently added after taking over the album were a photo of Doctor Beverly Crusher (with a heart-shaped border), his Grankite Order of Tactics award for the creation of the Picard Maneuver, and information regarding the New Atlantis Project. He also had documents from his time at Starfleet Academy, such as an invitation to his graduation in 2327 in Yuri Gagarin Hall. Curiously, a picture of the bell ringer from the post-atomic horror courtroom scenario created by Q in "Encounter at Farpoint" was also somehow included. Other items, not yet seen and mentioned in the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 2, p. 143, were the Starfleet orders giving him command of the USS Stargazer.
Though the prop of the Picard family album was a very real, factually-created, production asset, Memory Alpha only considers the pages actually seen on-screen as canon for its in-universe purposes.