Below I’ve aggregated a list of some of the longer articles and material I’ve written about these topics. The completist can find and search my site for even more specific material with these tags: zettelkasten, commonplace books, and note taking. I’ve also contributed a fair amount to the Wikipedia pages for zettelkasten and commonplace books.
General
- A note taking problem and a proposed solution
- Differentiating online variations of the Commonplace Book: Digital Gardens, Wikis, Zettlekasten, Waste Books, Florilegia, and Second Brains
- The Two Definitions of Zettelkasten
- Reframing and simplifying the idea of how to keep a Zettelkasten
- A Note on the Cargo Cult of Zettelkasten
- Thoughts on Zettelkasten numbering systems
- On The Interdisciplinarity of Zettelkasten: Card Numbering, Topical Headings, and Indices
- Different types of notes and use cases
- Zettelkasten Overreach
- Call for Model Examples of Zettelkasten Output Processes
- Note: Be sure to read the comments here for some useful examples.
- A note about my article on Goitein with respect to Zettelkasten Output Processes
- Rules against quotes in Zettelkasten? A closer look at Ahrens on Quotes and Collecting
- On Cohesion and Coherence of the Zettelkasten: Where Does the Work Reside?
- A quick survey of academics, teachers, and researchers blogging about note taking practices and zettelkasten-based methods
- Useful books, articles, and miscellaneous manuals
- Zettelkasten for Course Work
History
- A One Paragraph Summary of Ahrens’ How to Take Smart notes from 1775-76 (Georg Christoph Lichtenberg)
- Knowledge management practices on romantic display in George Eliot’s Middlemarch (1871)
- Zettelkasten Method State of the Art in 1898
- Death by Zettelkasten!! (L’Île des Pingouins by Anatole France, 1908)
- Zettelkasten History Prior to Niklas Luhmann: Antonin Sertillanges
- Review of “On Intellectual Craftsmanship” (1952) by C. Wright Mills
- The Zettelkasten Method of Note Taking Mirrors Most of the Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Contextualizing Cornell Notes in the Note Taking Traditions
- First Use of Zettelkasten in an English Language Setting?
- The Memindex Method: an early precursor of the Memex, Hipster PDA, 43 Folders, GTD, BaSB, and Bullet Journal systems
Productivity
- The Memindex Method: an early precursor of the Memex, Hipster PDA, 43 Folders, GTD, BaSB, and Bullet Journal systems
- A year of Bullet Journaling on Index Cards inspired by the Memindex Method (see esp. comments for Q&A)
- Memindex set up photo
Hypothes.is
- Hypothes.is, a web annotation tool, as an off-label zettelkasten?!
- An Outline for Using Hypothesis for Owning your Annotations and Highlights
- Hypothes.is + Obsidian = Hypothesidian for easier note taking and formatting
- Creating a commonplace book or zettelkasten index from Hypothes.is tags
Miscellaneous Topics
- Self-hosting TiddlyWiki with GitHub Pages
- Pen and paper publishing to your website? PaperWebsite is on to something.
- Handwriting my Website with a Digital Amanuensis
- On Note Taking: Putting Ideas into a Crib
- Does Spirit hide in the filing cabinet?
- Thoughts on open notebooks, research, and social media
- Where are the Zettelkasten memes?!?
- On the Jokerzettel: An Apocalyptic Interpretation of Luhmann’s note ZKII 9/8j
- Scaffolding “Secret” Knowledge: An analogy for teachers of thinkers, creators, readers, and writers
Practical Examples
- Vocabulary notebooks, Criminally Insane Asylum Patients, Zettelkasten, the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, and Digital Dictionaries (1857, 1894, 1897)
- Some notes on Aby Warburg: Metamorphosis and Memory (1866-1929)
- The Idea File of Harold Adams Innis (1894-1952)
- Lifestyles of the Note Takers & Intellectuals: Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)
- S.D. Goitein’s Card Index (or Zettelkasten) (1900-1985)
- Mortimer J. Adler’s Syntopicon: a topically arranged collaborative slipbox (1942-1952)
- Anne Frank’s Zettelkasten (1943)
- A Quick Look at Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Zettelkasten: Zettel 1967
- Eminem and Stacking Ammo (2010)
- Victor Margolin’s zettelkasten process for note taking and writing (2015)
- Santa’s Magnificent Zettelkasten: The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
- Chris Rock’s zettelkasten output process (2023)
Texts
Boxes
- The Ultimate Guide to Zettelkasten Index Card Storage
- Brodart Library Supplies for the Analog Zettelkasten Enthusiast
- Satelite Combination Card Index Cabinet and Telephone Stand
- Market analysis of library card catalogs in 2023
- FireKing Index Card Filing Cabinet: Rock Solid Zettelkasten Storage for Under 10¢ per card
Boxes I personally own and use
- Steelcase 8 Drawer Steel Card Index Filing Cabinet for 4 x 6 inch cards
- The Macey Co. 16 Drawer Oak Early 1900s 3 x 5 Inch No. 15 Card Index Filing Cabinet with No. 1535 C. I. Inserts
- Midcentury Gaylord Bros., Inc. Oak Modular Library Card Catalog Acquisition
- Vintage wooden desk top Shaw-Walker 11 inch card index for 3 x 5″ cards
- Singer Business Furniture 20 gauge steel industrial 16 drawer index card filing cabinet
- Vintage desktop Remington Rand 10 5/8 inch card index for 3 x 5″ cards
- Shaw-Walker Two Drawer Quarter Sawn Wooden Card Index File for 4 x 6″ Cards
- Library charging trays for vertically oriented 3 x 5″ index cards
Accessories
- Index Card Accessories for Note Taking on the Go
- Custom Zettelkasten Stationery?
- Review: Stockroom+ Grid Ruled 4 x 6 Inch Index Cards
- Review of King Jim A6 size horizontal Flatty Works case #5460
- DIY: Index Card Notepad
- Index Card Cases, Wallets, Covers, Pouches, etc.
Other formats
Portions of this collection can be downloaded and read in the following formats:
.epub (last updated 2022-12-27)
@chrisaldrich …your script modification for hypothesis to obsidian is what we’re using in the class BTW. Thanks!
@chrisaldrich @hyde @adamsdeskOoh, saved for future reference when I’m done with this insane amount of schoolwork. 😉
@chrisaldrich @benjaminhollon @adamsdesk Nice collection ! Thanks for providing it 🙂
This week’s piece is taking me more time to both research and hammer out the arguments and I already missed my largely self-imposed deadline of…
Many may recall that I’ve been refinishing vintage mid-century furniture for over a decade now. I’ve also been more cognizant of converting my commonplace book…
@chrisaldrich wow. Great effort!
Amidst my seemingly ever-growing collection of index card boxes and trays, I’ve been contemplating getting something that would store cards in a vertical orientation rather…
@chrisaldrich Thanks! Looks like a ton of great stuff.
Frequently newcomers to the note taking space or one of the many tools used within it are curious to see others who are using these…
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.
I just have a note on my phone with this for each one.
Brand Model:
– Color:
– Serial:
– Made:
– Typeface:
– CPI:
Could be better but easy to edit and modify, and in a central place I can access anywhere.
But seeing those tags makes me kinda want them for no good reason lol. Though an “Acquired” date might be a nice touch.
easy I only have one
Honestly? I don’t… 🙂
I’m not tripping over them, but they are spilling out of my typewiter-bookcase and all over the floor… I still have less than 100 machines (not by much) and I do remeembe. what they are and how and where I bought them. But I will say looking at some of my cases it will take a minute before I know what’s actually in them… I was looking for my Erika 8 the other day and those Erika cases all look pretty much the same. Often the answer comes to me by process of elimination.
Do I need to do something?? Yes.
Is i a priority? No. 😀
We have tags for the cases with some basic info.
We keep the Typewriter Databasethe Typewriter Database current.
And we have a spreadsheet that tracks details:
Link to TWDB
Ultra/Standard/Electric Portable/Manual Portable
Good or Needs Work
Similar to another model or Unique
Brand + Model + Nickname
Decade + Year made + SN + Country Made In
Body Color + Body detail
Key Color + Key detail + Key Layout
CPI + Typeface + Ribbon/Spool notes
Case + User Guide
Cost + Shipping + Purchased from details (where, who)
Repair dates and cost
2 potential Values – low and high
Given/Sold to + Date + Cost
We had the spreadsheet and the tags early in our collecting, we just tracked more info as the numbers got higher. The TWDB project we did in stages, getting the machine data in first then uploading basic pics, going back to update typeface samples, more pics then links and updated descriptions. I still have galleries that need updating…
Very few can I tell from their case what’s inside.
I love looking at the galleries in TWDB and reading descriptions about original owners and how machines were found etc.
I keep Index cards with make, model, serial number, year, type size, and weight.
https://preview.redd.it/pjt9n69amnaf1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80f38c9a25a90665082358535d650a01c998cfa2
On the back I put type samples!
Trust me, once you reach 10 or so, you better have a spread sheet or index cards. You want to know the Make, model, SN, year and TF. Where you got it, how much, issues, what you did to it. Any glitches when you are done? Tag the case on protables.
Had a spreadsheet once.
It’s severely out of date.
Ooh, I need to type tags for mine