Here’s a version of the timeline of some of the intellectual history I presented today at the PKM Summit in Utrecht. I’m happy to answer any questions, or if you’re impatient, you can also search my online digital repository of notes for any of the people or topics mentioned.

It covers variations of personal knowledge management, commonplace books, zettelkasten, indexing, etc. I wish we’d had time for so much more, but I hope some of the ideas and examples are helpful in giving folks some perspective on what has gone before so that we might expand our own horizons.

The color code of the slides (broadly):

  • orange – intellectual history
  • dark grey – memory, method of loci, memory palaces
  • blue – commonplace books
  • green – index cards, slips, zettelkasten traditions
  • purple – orality
  • light teal – dictionary compilations
  • red – productivity methods

I think I’ve bought yet another typewriter: a late 60s/early 70s Remington Streamliner. I bought it in part because it looks beautiful, but also (I’m not going to lie here) because it’s very similar in color to my mint blue TWSBI Eco-T fountain pen and my General Fireproofing Co. desk

I swear this is my last one for a while… at least until I find a reasonably priced and superb condition late 50s Olympia SM3 preferably in either green or maroon.

Irked by the overinflated prices on Ebay for typewriters, I’ve been casting about for other sources of reasonably priced machines to purchase. Today I purchased two I saw at auction: 

  • Smith-Corona Classic 12 in metallic green for $18.00
  • 1969 Smith-Corona Galaxie Deluxe in steel blue for $23.00

Both appear to be in good shape and functional though one is going to need some reasonable cleaning and repair of a few linkages. I can’t wait for them to ship to see what I’ve got. They both look like a lot of fun… 

On a quick front-of-the-index card calculation, I realize that with the recent Steelcase cabinet acquisition, I now have 8 boxes comprising 61 drawers and 103.25 feet of storage space for approximately 172,296 index cards. Having spent a total of $786.52 on them over the past year this comes out at about $12.89 per drawer, which is fantastically under the $14-25 ubiquitous 11″ cardboard boxes for such a massive step up in quality and longevity. 
Three notebooks stacked up next to three separate piles of 1,300 index cards.

On average, the typical A5 sized notebook (Leuchtturm, Hobonichi, Stalogy, Moleskine, Midori, Clairefontaine, Apica, Kleid, etc. ranging from 192 to 368 pages) has an equivalent square footage of writing surface to the front (only) of about 420 4 x 6 inch index cards. On a cost basis, for the same amount of money, on average one can buy 1,200 index cards for what they’re shelling out for equivalent notebooks.

Surfing around with respect to library card catalogs, I ran across John Blyberg‘s Library Card Generator this afternoon. Anyone who’s playing at the intersection of analog and digital zettelkasten is sure to love the possibilities here.

Yellowed library card catalog card with top red horizontal line and two vertical lines that split the card into three colums. Printed on the card are a red 9/8j on the left with the contents of Niklas Luhmann's jokerzettel card typed out. There are a few scribbles handwritten onto the card as well.

Incidentally, if you’re still into the old-school library card catalog cards, Demco still sells the red ruled cards!