Lit-Ning Products | Chris Aldrich

Acquired 5 x 8 (Hunt Manufacturing Co., Lit-Ning Products Division)

8 5/8 x 5 3/4 x 4 1/8" exterior dimensions
putty color

This seemed like a nice way to enter the exciting world of 5 x 8″ index cards.

A pittance of $5.00 at the local thrift shop also included a full set of Universal Paper Goods Stock No. 58-25 card dividers with both alphabetic and numeral printing.

Acquired Lit-Ning Model 1K Card Index for 2 x 3.5" Cards

Overall dimensions: 3.5 x 4.5 x 8"

I picked up this vintage card index meant for filing business cards on July 20th for a fantastic $1.50. I hadn’t seen a card index this small before and suspected that it was designed as a sort of Rolodex for storing 2 x 3.5″ standard business cards. It makes an excellent storage for those as well as for the several dozen other old affinity cards and library cards I’ve got. Of course, my problem is that it only fits about half of the business cards I’ve got.

There are a few places that still make card dividers for this size format, but I opted to make my own from 11 x 17″ card stock.

Acquired Steel Desk Drawer Paper Organizer (Hunt Manufacturing Co. (Fresno, CA), Lit-Ning Products Division)

Six slots for organizing your typing papers and envelopes as well as space for your stapler, tape dispenser, and various other desk drawer implements.

In an effort to slowly improve my analog office proficiency and productivity, I have heeded Lenore Fenton’s advice to have all my supplies organized at my fingertips. Toward that end I’ve picked up this excellent paper organizer for the top desk drawer of my executive tanker desk. This mid-century marvel is perfect for storing a variety of paper types and envelopes to have them easily to hand. (For ease of viewing and use, you’ll see photos of it sitting on my desktop right next to my typewriter.)

In the 1943 film Basic Typing Methods, in the very opening seconds of the film, you’ll see the woman in the foreground pulling paper quickly from her desk drawer for typing. While it’s not immediately visible, she’s surely got a similar paper organizer in her drawer. (Pardon the heavily gendered references in the film.)