Old Memo Books Make Digital Transition

“I think a lot of it has to do with my experience going and looking at antiques and seeing these unscientific values given to glassware and old signs, the American antique landscape. There’s no science to it,” he says. “Then to see some old memo book; I’m not paying $20 for this because they feel it is supposed to be an old relic, I’m paying $20 because I want to share this little love of mine in a way that you don’t have to go and find them in some antique mall. I just undercut anyone who was trying to make them too special. I just wanted to make them accessible. It’s not about making a buck; it’s about getting them out there.”

Three years into the project, the digital archive of memo books stands at 400, with a goal of adding an additional 100 each month. And with more and more publicity, Aaron’s collection continues to grow.

“Now people are seeing the website and then sending them in. They send them in, we scan them and then send them back,” he says. “We have people donating them with notes like ‘From the estate of …’ We have a lot of those up there. Jim and I decided we were just going to show so many, thinking there are only so many years, only so many companies, but they keep coming in, older and weirder.” FC 

Beth Beavers is the associate editor of Farm Collector and Gas Engine Magazine. You can contact her at 1-800-682-4704 or bbeavers@ogdenpubs.com.  

For more information and to submit memo books: Aaron Draplin, 107 SE Washington St., Unit No. 540, Portland, OR 97214; email: Draplin@draplin.com; Field Notes Brand.