Thanks to a tip from reader Raymond, here’s another World War I diary story. What a treasure for a family to have. “The old cloth-covered book hardly shows its age — at 100, it betrays only the most modest of frayed edges. But to the family of the 24-year-old soldier who recorded history with a … Continue reading Joe Rodier’s World War I Diary
I first saw images of Jean Fick’s notebook on Pinterest and was fascinated. Such beautiful colors and patterns, accompanied by rather odd writings, densely filling a tiny notebook. It is mysterious in many ways– all I’ve been able to find out is that the notebook was part of an exhibition at the American Folk Art … Continue reading Jean Fick’s Notebook
A fitting way to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I: an English soldier’s diary of his time as a prisoner of war in 1918. One of the photos below shows that the diary was re-written in 1920. I wonder if the original writings were in a diary similar to this … Continue reading Henry Wilkinson’s World War I Diary and Sketchbook
Sometimes a notebook can be a special hidden surprise, as I discovered in the case of this beautiful wooden box. The box originally belonged to the grandparents of a friend of mine, and had been saved by her parents. It turned up when we were clearing out their house in preparation for a move. My … Continue reading A Surprise Notebook
A nice collection of agricultural advertising notebooks, and some reminiscences on how they were used: These pads and pencils were basic record keeping tools for a generation of farmers. One book might contain all of a farmer’s purchases and sales for a year. It might hold entries on all of the cash advanced or credit … Continue reading Royster Fertilizer Notebooks
I recently read an American classic that I’d never had to read in school: Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis. In the first chapter, there is a description of the contents of Babbitt’s pockets, which includes this passage: Most significant of all was his loose-leaf pocket note-book, that modern and efficient note-book which contained the addresses of … Continue reading Babbitt’s Notebook
Earlier this year, actor Douglas Taurel presented a one-man show based on the World War I diary of a soldier named Irving Greenwald, which is part of a collection at the Library of Congress. The diary itself is quite amazing: look at the tiny print squeezing all that text into pocket size pages! Read more … Continue reading Irving Greenwald’s World War I Diary
A poignant artifact from the Cambridgeshire Community Archive: an amazingly well-preserved World War I diary. Eric Gardiner was the youngest son of F J Gardiner, owner and editor of the Wisbech Advertiser (now the Fenland Citizen).  Eric joined up when war was declared and from the moment of his arrival in France up to his death in 1915 he … Continue reading Eric Gardiner’s World War I Diary
The website of the National Gallery of Art has a nice feature about a Cézanne sketchbook. He kept many sketchbooks, but most of them were taken apart and sold to collectors as individual drawings. The National Gallery has one of the only intact sketchbooks. In conjunction with the exhibition Cézanne Portraits (March 25–July 1, 2018) this … Continue reading Cézanne’s Sketchbook
Here’s an interesting story where a notebook makes a cameo. Sgt. Richard G. “Dick” Schimmel was at Fort Shafter, near Pearl Harbor, when the attack happened. He worked as a switchboard operator, alternating shifts with Private Joseph McDonald. McDonald was on duty when a warning of the attack was radioed in– he wrote down a … Continue reading Pearl Harbor Notebook