Mid-1980s Vernon McMillan Notebook

Here’s an oldie but goodie, which I used during my freshman year of college:
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It was made by the Vernon McMillan company, based in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The “Memo Book” typography is pretty cool… and check out that snazzy, wave-like VM logo! I love the mottled orange cover– I don’t know if there’s a name for this kind of cardboard, but you used to see it used a lot more for the covers of notebooks and looseleaf binders. It doesn’t seem to be as common nowadays, but I think someone needs to bring it back into favor!

The back is a nice plain cardboard, quite thick.

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One thing I love about this notebook is the ratio of the thickness of the paper to the diameter of the wire spiral. I really hate it when spirals stick way out beyond the paper, but this one is nice and tight.

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The spiral is in surprisingly good shape considering that this knocked around in my bag for quite a while. I guess I’m so fond of notebooks that I unconsciously take good care of them.

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As always, I find random things jotted down on pages. I’ve yet to answer the question below:

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I must have started this notebook right at the beginning of the school year, as I was writing down course materials I had to buy and notes about classes.

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There were also a lot of notes about how much money I had and was spending, homework assignments, and other random anxieties of a college student, plus several pages that a friend scribbled all over when one of my roommates let her into my room to wait for me while I was out. At the time I was rather annoyed that she’d wasted all these pages of my nice notebook, but it’s a funny thing to look back at now.

I never use spiral notebooks like this any more, but I do love looking at all the old ones I’ve saved. You just can’t buy them like this any more…

4 thoughts on “Mid-1980s Vernon McMillan Notebook”

  1. Thanks for posting this. I love these old cardboard cover notebooks and I have found an old corner store that sells old stock JoRedCo notebooks also made in Elizabeth NJ. I bought the last four this week. I love them not just for the covers but the paper is great. Any fountain pen I use doesn’t bleed through, even ones with a thick wet line. And the paper is not too thick like Clairefontaines. Somehow it absorbs the ink and doesn’t bleed. They don’t make em like that anymore.

  2. I have one of your note book #64-7556 [556 1/2] 200pages 85/8in x33/4 [21.9cm x 9.5cm] I would like to buy another one please let know where. my phone # 713 614-3848

  3. I have a 4 1/2 inch x 7 1/4 , 6 ring binder and have looked everywhere for a replacement for it. Has No.-1564 (R506) on inside the front cover. Made by Vernon Mc Millian. Can you help me locate one to replace mine?

  4. I remember these because their graph paper notebooks, standard size, had “page’s Pages of Formulae” by Professor E. L. Page, University of Michigan. I think they totaled about 8-10 pages of free crib notes. They had some errors: In physics Newtons (unit of force) was neutrons. Probably a copyright trap.
    Something like this should be kept in circulation and expanded with all variations of the equations.

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