Commonplace books.
Subject
Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Scope Note: The Greenwood encyclopedia of American poets and poetry, 2006: Commonplace book; a notebook in which the keeper enters textual memorabilia, usually by hand. The items recorded in the books are called "commonplaces"; commonplaces include maxims, excerpts from literature or philosophy, bits of scientific data, excerpts from friends' letters or other writing, and records of oral conversations; often includes commentary by its keeper; served many functions: scrapbooks, containers for memories; pedagogical tools in early modern schools; sites of self-improvement