Today we’ll take a look at another item from my collection of vintage notebooks, a Master-Craft loose leaf binder. At first glance, it looks quite similar to some of the other pocket size loose leaf notebooks I own but there are a couple of interesting differences.

This Master-Craft notebook was quite well-used. The exterior is scuffed in various places, and you can see impressions of the rings where the leather finish started to wear thin. There’s even some kind of crusty substance stuck on the back cover. But I’m sure this notebook was quite handsome when it was new. The cover seems to be made of leather, with a pebbly grain on the outside and an inner texture that resembles the tiny dimples on Moleskine’s faux-leather covers. The front cover has a debossed border around 3 sides, while the back cover has a stitched border. The original owner’s name is stamped on the front cover. The notebook measures about 3-1/2″ x 5-7/16″ x 9/16″ thick.

The spine of the Master-Craft notebook is one of the unusual details. There seems to be a separate strip of leather that runs down the spine, wrapping over the top and bottom edges. My guess is that it was made this way to hide whatever fastening mechanism secures the rings onto the cover. But it also looks nice, and seems to reinforce the ends.

Inside the front cover there is a gold-stamped brand logo reading “Made in the shops of Master-Craft” and the model number 5010 1/4.

Inside the back cover is a nice curved-edge pocket, the attachment of which is the reason for the stitching on the outside.

The rings are rather dulled with age, with some spots of rust, but they still open and close with a satisfying snap. I love that the rings are oval, not circular. The “1/4” in the model number may refer to the ring diameter being about 1/4 inch if measured from the metal plate that covers the ring mechanism. The diameter side to side is more like 3/8 inch.

This notebook came with lovely black end sheets with a striated texture. Many of the lined sheets are blank, but the ones with writing seem to have phone numbers, a list of some religious books, and notes about different models of water heaters.

The coolest thing about this notebook is that it includes a 1937-1938 calendar page that was probably included when it was originally purchased. The calendar page also mentions the Master-Craft brand, and reminds the owner how to open the rings correctly. I love knowing that this notebook is at least 88 years old!

I found some information about Master-Craft here, as part of a history of an industrial building in Kalamazoo, MI. Master-Craft came into existence in 1929, as a descendant of the Remington-Rand Company, which in 1927 had merged with the Loose Leaf Binder and Equipment Co. That company had previously been called The Kalamazoo Loose Leaf Binder Company, and was said to be the largest loose leaf binder manufacturer in the world. I had found another eBay listing for a notebook where the brand logo said “Made in the shops of Master-Craft, Kalamazoo, U.S.A.” but since Master-Craft moved out of Kalamazoo in 1935, my notebook doesn’t mention that location. Yet another eBay listing shows the company name as “The Shaw-Walker Company, Master-Craft Division, Kalamazoo, Mich.”

I don’t know where they moved to when they left Kalamazoo, but I found a business listing for MasterCraft of Seattle which notes that they make loose leaf binders and other office supplies. I can’t tell if they are still active, as their last Facebook post was dated 2015, and as of this writing their website doesn’t seem to be working. I don’t think there is any connection to the MasterCraft Boat Company or the MasterCraft home building company.

I would love to know more about the history of Master-Craft. It sounds like it was a big employer in Kalamazoo for quite a while, as my online searches also turned up various obituaries of people who had worked there. I wasn’t able to find out much else about C. A. Seiple either, other than that someone of that name died in the 1950s. So this is yet another old-fashioned black loose leaf notebook with tantalizing links to the past, but whose full history will remain an enigma.