There Is Nothing Common about Commonplace Books

 

"Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

In a drawer of the cabinet I was cleaning yesterday, I rediscovered my old “scrapbook” from the late 1950s and early 1960s. It contained clippings of newspaper advertisements for movies I had seen or wanted to see along with “artistic” line-illustrated store ads. I collected the ads as references for my drawings and doodles. This was not my journal, I was too lazy at that time to keep one, but a collection of other people’s ideas for my use. Though I did not know it, this was my first commonplace book.

During the 25 years that I taught English, reading, U.S. history, theatre, and French classes, I gave my students a new quotation each day from a writer, artist, actor, or philosopher. They kept the quotes in a notebook. I encouraged them to find other quotes that meant something to them to add to their books and share with the class, but few did. It was just another drudgery [as all schoolwork is] that I imposed upon them. When each school year ended, the students went out the door and the books went into the trash. My attempt to inspire them with a collection of great thoughts from great thinkers failed. It failed because the thoughts and ideas were not what the students found inspiring enough to keep for themselves; they were only important to me. I could not impose my commonplace book upon them.

So, what is a commonplace book? It is not a journal, diary, or personal record of your thoughts, ideas, and events of the day, but a “common place” to keep a collection of other people’s thoughts and ideas for future use or to reflect upon. A commonplace book is a compilation of quotations, poems, knowledge, ideas, song lyrics, anecdotes, proverbs, recipes, lists, illustrations, book titles, words, observations, or anything else one might want to remember [is this list long enough?] either organized by theme or randomly recorded.

Ryan Holiday, author of Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control, and a commonplace book compiler, remarked, “A commonplace book is a central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations and information you come across during your life and didactic pursuits. The purpose of the book is to record and organize these gems for later use in your life, in your business, in your writing, speaking, or whatever it is that you do.”

At a RootsTech family history convention in Salt Lake City, WordPress was handing out small, blank books for taking notes at the conference. I picked up a couple, but I did not use them at the time. After a few years of neglecting the books, I started using them to record the quotations I had scribbled on scraps of paper and stuffed in a desk drawer. They have made convenient commonplace books.