Category Archives: Nostalgia

World War 2 Diaries Found in Attic

A cool story from the Manchester Evening News:   Angela Prince, 74, found the dust-covered notebooks while clearing the attic of her aunt and uncle’s attic in Partington. They appear to be written by children of the Hall family, who ran the medical herbalists Hall’s Hygiene in Salford until the 1970s. Retired secretary Angela, who … Continue reading World War 2 Diaries Found in Attic

The Sketchbook / Memorandum Book of W.G. Read

I just love this. A beautiful old notebook with wonderfully drawn little sketches. I’ve come across a few other examples of these T. J. Smith’s “metallic memorandum books” online (and posted about one here). I just wish I’d find one in a junk shop somewhere so I could own one of these treasures myself! Read … Continue reading The Sketchbook / Memorandum Book of W.G. Read

Early 20th Century Police Detective Log Books

This is amazing! I’m not surprised they sold for over $3,400!   From the listing: Andrew A. Ryan Police record, 1899-1920; 1 ledger, 23 notebooks (4 x 6 in.). The work of a detective in a turn of the twentieth century U.S. city was nearly as difficult and dangerous as it is today, with murders … Continue reading Early 20th Century Police Detective Log Books

1880s Memorandum Book

Here’s a drool-worthy item that some collector has probably already snapped up:   From the description: “The writing in the book includes “This Old Pocket Book & Pencil was given to me by my Father about the year 1882 and in the following pages I have recorded some of the events of my Life, places … Continue reading 1880s Memorandum Book

Random Notebooks from My Collection

Here’s a few things I pulled out of one of my storage boxes, about half of which is filled with childhood notebooks from the late ’70s to mid-’80s. First, a small orange looseleaf notebook. I was probably in about 6th grade when I decided to devote it to Astronomy and colored the cover with a … Continue reading Random Notebooks from My Collection

100 Years of Diaries

Wow, I can’t believe I never heard about this gallery show when it was in New York this past fall: Dylan Stone’s 100 Years project at Ruth Phaneuf Fine Arts. I found out about it via a recent post at Design Observer: The Twentieth Century began on the morning of the 20th of August, 1900, … Continue reading 100 Years of Diaries

1940s Diary

These photos were submitted by former notebook addict of the week Paul, who is always a source of interesting tips! These diaries were kept by one of his family members from 1941-1944. The interior of the first one is an earlier version of the western diary I wrote about in this post, both made by … Continue reading 1940s Diary