Found Magazine Filled With Scraps & Notes… An Online Lost & Found

For the past few years, Davy Rothbart has been collecting scraps of discarded correspondence like thrown-away notes, love letters, and hand-scribbled to-do lists — anything that gives a glimpse into someone else’s life — and printing them in his magazine called FOUND: The Best Tossed, Lost and Forgotten Items From Around The World.

Here’s what’s so cool about his collection…

h2>Scraps Of History
Each scrap — whether it be a napkin, a piece of notebook paper, a flier, photograph, or brochure — reveals something unique about its original owner. It’s truly a piece of history from the modern day world.

Most are only fragments of the original document – usually a sliver of the remains from the time the original was ripped up or thrown away.

The interesting part of all this, is the fact that it happens every day. You do it. I do it. We all jot stuff down, whether it be important stuff or not, and scraps of our notes surely still exist somewhere in the world today – maybe inside an old college textbook, on a used up notepad, or just in the junk piles of garbage filling up the dumps across the country.

The truth is, the authors could never have expected that their tidbits, notes, and heartfelt words would have been found and eventually seen by millions of eyes. But they’ve got to end up somewhere now, don’t they?

The psychological intrigue on the part of you, the reader, comes to play when you take into account the fact that there’s no way to know the true story behind these bits and pieces of hand-written notes. It’s often difficult, if not impossible, to make out their true meaning. Yet, it’s interesting nonetheless to come up with your own interpretation of what this writer of this note actually meant and/or why it was written down in the first place.

 

Wanna See?

Rothbart also tours the country sharing his unique finds with anyone who’s willing to listen. You’ll find him on college campuses, at community gatherings, even on The Late Show With David Letterman.

You can also find his book, in bookstores near and far and on Amazon.com. The magazine featuring all of his latest collections can be ordered online.

To check it out for yourself right now, simply visit the FOUND website. You’ll get a good taste of all the crazy stuff he and others have found through the years.

 

You, Too, Can Participate

If you find stuff on your way to and from work, while walking the dog in the park, in the library or at the bank — pick up your new-found treasure and send it in! Chances are, it will show up online or in the next edition of his magazine.

UPDATE: I’ve Been Found!

Wow! Do I get around, or what?

I mean, I travel a bunch. I know my way around just about everything east of the Mississippi without a map. Traveling in sales for about 20 years and then chasing Terry McMillen around the U.S. and Canada has taken me on some wild journeys. But I haven’t had the opportunity to visit the land of enchantment: New Mexico.

Imagine my surprise when I got an email from David with Found Magazine checking to see if he could use something of mine that was found floating around downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Seems this page from our website was found on the streets of Albuquerque and turned in to the Found website. And now they want to use it in the “magazine” version of the website!

Do you know what’s even a little stranger than that?

Lynnette wrote about the Found website back in November 2004. There’s lots of interesting things to see there. Things that people have just found along the way and turned in to the site.

All in all, I guess my “100 Things About Jim” is not that strange of a thing to be found. After all, anyone can just print it out and it could have been dropped. Now, if they find my baby pictures in Area 51 of New Mexico, that’s another story!

OK, so there goes another hour wasted on the Net. It was fun wasn’t it?

Check out Found Magazine.