I came across these gorgeous archaeological notebooks on Pinterest, and traced them back to a website about the archaeological excavations of the Athenian Agora being carried out by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. I’m always fascinated by field notebooks and scientific notebooks like this! Archaeological excavation in the Athenian Agora is recorded … Continue reading Archaeological Notebooks
How’s everyone doing? Are you staying home? Are you writing a lot? Drawing? Filling notebooks to fill your time? Recording what life is like during this historic pandemic? These are such strange times. I’ve stopped carrying a bag or any notebooks with me when I do my weekly grocery run so I’ll have less stuff … Continue reading Notebooking through the Pandemic
How would you like to sit at this desk and do some writing in a notebook? That desk is on Hancock Hill, in Alpine, Texas. It’s been there for 40 years. At first, the guy whose idea it was to put the desk there just stashed a notebook in the drawer so he could record … Continue reading Notebooks from Hancock Hill
I lived in Brooklyn for years, but never went to Gage and Tollner, an old-fashioned steakhouse that was an institution there for over 100 years until it closed in 2004. They’re working on reopening soon, and in the process, came across some amazing artifacts. From an article in the New York Times: For an individual, … Continue reading Gage & Tollner Notebooks from the 1960s and 1970s
This is quite fascinating! Sixty-two years ago in the western city of Pori, a mysterious sealed envelope from a wealthy banker named Rafael Mellin was handed over to the local association Pori Seura. The group was established in 1901 and promotes the city’s culture and historical preservation but also is active in local environmental and social issues. Two … Continue reading Century-Old Secrets in a Finnish Banker’s Notebook
A fascinating article from the BBC about Japan’s traditions around the use of paper. Towards the end, there is a mention of the popularity of using planners such as the Hobonichi Techo: There are also still strong advocates for paper’s analogue charm in a world that is becoming increasingly digital. Japan’s so-called “techo culture†celebrates … Continue reading Japan’s Obsession with Paper
The February 29th New York Times has a piece by Tess Taylor, talking about her pilgrimage to California, to visit as many places photographed by Dorothea Lange as she can. She also read Lange’s pocket notebooks, now archived at the Oakland Museum of California. Ms. Lange, best known for her Depression-era photographs of migrant laborers, … Continue reading Dorothea Lange’s Notebooks
I love getting tips from readers, and this is a really special one. (Thanks Matt!) Itsuo Kobayashi, a former Japanese soba chef born in 1962 … has recorded his meals in painstakingly detailed, hand-drawn food diaries of sorts for the past 32 years. In addition to recollections about taste, Kobayashi’s pen has accounted for every … Continue reading A Japanese Chef’s Notebooks
Will police notebooks become a thing of the past? Officers in New York City will no longer be keeping hand-written activity logs, as they are switching to an iPhone app: For more than a century, the New York City Police Department has required its officers to keep a detailed, handwritten memo book while on patrol. … Continue reading No More Notebooks for NYC Cops
What a cool thing: The Exercise Book Archive is a website that is preserving exercise books, otherwise known as children’s school notebooks, from around the world and over hundreds of years! You can click on each notebook and see larger images of the cover and interior. Here’s the pink one from 1980s China in the … Continue reading The Exercise Book Archive