This Online Group Collects Images Of Historical Mementos People Randomly Found And Here’re 30 Of The Most Interesting Ones
Among all the amazing things out there in the world, the smell of wet concrete after a thunderstorm and the whiff of old paper rank at the very top for me. Couple the latter with my love of old books, documents, and all sorts of arcane papyri and you’ve got yourself a literature lover. I’ll read everything. Heck, I’ll read anything, even your cereal box. So I was pleasantly surprised after I stumbled upon the ‘Found Paper’ community over on Reddit.
A community of just over 147k members, r/FoundPaper likes to keep it simple and does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a community dedicated to documenting various pieces of paper found out in the wild. We’ve collected some of the best paper mementos as shared on the community for you to enjoy, dear Pandas, so remember to upvote your fave pics as you scroll down. Be sure to check out r/FoundPaper when you have the time and give them a follow if you like their stuff.
This post may include affiliate links.
Sad Find Today
Friend Of Mine Just Moved Into A New House. Took Off All The Heating Vents To Paint Them, And This Was Behind One Of Them
Death Warrant For My 10th Great Grandmother Susannah North Martin, Tried And Convicted At The Salem Witch Trials
The r/FoundPaper subreddit celebrated its 7th birthday a few days ago, on April 30 (congratulations!), proving that communities thrive and survive based on the quality of the content they post. And the fact that the subreddit has had so many birthdays is proof enough that it’s got quality entertainment locked down tight.
One of the ‘Found Paper’ community’s greatest strengths is how streamlined and niche its interests are. Its second strength is that it actually encourages its members to get out of the house and start their own small adventures in order to have something to post.
Good Advice For Everyone!
Found On A Collected Airplane Food Tray By Flight Attendant
“Ain’t I A Peach? Ha, Ha” In A 1895 Bible
“Photographs of found pieces of PAPER(!) with writing on them. Look for paper, make every day a scavenger hunt. Appreciate the forgotten artifacts of everyday life. Share any paper that you found (on the ground, stuck in some bushes, or between cans of soup at the store for example) and you do not know who wrote it,” the subreddit’s moderators explain what their community is all about.
Found Under Windshield
My Mother-In-Law Found A Message In A Bottle Washed Up On The Beach This Weekend. East Coast
Found This Passive Aggressive Customer Service Letter From 1964 In My Garage
“Love letters, doodles, interesting to-do or grocery lists, notes from the past—share your discovery with us!” the mods encourage book, paper, scavenger hunt, and adventure lovers to share their awesome finds with everyone else.
Found On My Daily Walk —“Wow”
In The Library
Found In A Couch Being Re-Upholstered
The moderators also highlight the fact that in order to post any photos, the paper has to be found and it has to be paper. No forgotten plastic from your garage. No granite engravings from your neighbors Tom and Jane’s farm (because you know exactly whom they belong to and, well, paper beats rock).
Found In My Fortune Cookie....made Me Smile
Paper Found Among My Late Grandmother’s Belongings Talking About The Armistice Ending Ww I
"I Remember That Old Pole"
What’s more, the mods want everyone to be “courteous and friendly” toward one another, avoid being “overly annoying or bothersome,” embrace tolerance and sensitivity, as well as remove any and all sensitive personal info from the photos before posting them. Sounds simple enough and it’s the basis for the rules most larger subreddits follow. Disruptive, chaotic, and intolerant communities don’t tend to last for long on Reddit (unless they’re doing it on purpose for the sake of humor).
Prom - April 24, 1970. Found While Walking The Dog This Morning
Found (Under) Wallpaper
Was Told To Post Here: My Cousin Is Using This Bag Which Originally Belonged To Our Great Grandmother For Her Dance Tomorrow Night And Found A Note Which Has Been Hidden For 81 Years
Yes I believe it says Cape Town. Cape Town is the second biggest city in South Africa. An amazingly beautiful part of the world. (For those who may not know)
The Library of Congress explains that how quickly paper deteriorates depends on its quality and in what environment it’s stored. Some ancient tomes and documents can actually be in far better condition than a scrap of paper that’s just a few years old.
“Paper is made of cellulose—a repeating chain of glucose molecules—derived from plant cell walls. One measure of paper quality is how long the cellulose chains, and subsequently the paper fibers, are: long-fibered paper is stronger and more flexible and durable than short-fibered paper,” the LoC points out that not all paper is created equally. If you’re going for longevity, long-fibered paper is your best bet.
Found Posted On A Couple Of The Walls Around My City. Email At The Bottom Blacked Out
This Book From 1892 I Found Inside A Hole In The Wall In A Rental Flat
Bought An Abandoned House And Found This In The Attic
Can you imagine how terrifying it would be to recieve newspapers like that during those times?
Acids from the environment (like from air pollution or poor-quality enclosures) or from within the paper cut these glucose chains into shorter and shorter lengths in the presence of moisture. “This acid hydrolysis reaction produces more acids, feeding further, continued degradation.”
Found In The Hallway Of My School
Garage Sale Find (1929) - About 100 Love Letters Over Two Years From A Guy In Seattle To A Girl In Aberdeen, Wa
Historicfound This On The Street In Downtown Sd About 4 Years Ago When I Needed It Most. It’s Been In My Wallet Ever Since
One of the reasons why newspapers don’t last for long is because they’re printed on mechanically pulped paper, meaning the paper has got the shortest fiber length. Meanwhile, the lignin from the wood isn’t removed (as in the case of chemical pulping) and promotes acid hydrolysis, shortening the glucose chains even more.
This Dollar Bill I Found In My Change
Well......that’s kind of true. Money does kind of control our lives sometimes.
Purchased Old Poetry Book At Flea Market And Found This Old Receipt For A College Poetry Class. This Receipt Has Been In This Book For 102 Years!
This Came Out Of A Book I Was Flipping Through
What’s more, it’s not just acid hydrolysis that threatens a piece of paper’s structural integrity. It can also be damaged by light (what’s known as being susceptible to photolytic degradation) and oxygen (oxidative degradation).
The poorer quality of the paper, the more light degradation affects it. Meanwhile, oxygen degrades paper in a very limited way, unless there are nitrogen oxide pollutants in the air.
Found On The Floor Of A Target. Meet Carla Rose
Found In My Apartment Building Lobby Today In North Dakota
"No. Not Yet." ~ Found In 1908 High School Geometry Textbook
I am not sure if you can find "That something" in geometry books :))))))
Generally, what you want to aim for is having high-quality paper that’s stored in good conditions. Cooler temperatures and 30 to 40 percent relative humidity can help paper last for a very long time, according to the Library of Congress. That’s something to keep in mind if you want to take good care of the interesting finds and documents you may have picked up on your scavenger hunts.
Just Found This $1 Bill At My Parents House. When I Was 6 Years Old I Made This Bet With My Father, He Died 2 Months Later. 25 Years To The Day I Find This....had No Idea A $1 Bill Could Feel So Valuable
Dave Winfield hitting a 2 bagger for the win. Oldest player to do so in the WS. Watched this from right over the border.
My Buddy Was Renovating His Bathroom And Found This In The Wall
Grandpa
Found On My Way To Class This Morning
I've Been Collecting Found Photos For Years. This Is One Of My Favourites
Found Tucked Between The Pages Of A Secondhand Textbook I Bought
Found This 14 Year Old Ticket Stub From London, In A Used Book. I Live 5000 Miles Away In India
Found On The Floor Of A Dive Bar Last Year. Now One Of My Most Prized Possessions
Found This In The Kitchen At My Job
This Photo Was Tucked In A Used Book I Bought 15 Years Ago, I’ve Been Using It As A Bookmark Ever Since. I Hope One Day I Find Her...
Funny thing is....that's the exact face she'd make when you found her.
In A Vintage Hemingway
When you think of how much home cooking people did back then, it’s not a lot
Found This Letter That Traveled More Than 209 Miles From The Original Point. Took Five And A Half Years For Someone To Pick It Up, I Was Cleaning The River In Louisville Kentucky And Saw This
Found This Left Behind In My Sons Room As We Were Moving Out
Found This Note On My Morning Walk. Love In A Time Of Coronavirus!
Found A Parrot Doodle On A Napkin
There Is A Bookstore In Cambridge, Massachusetts That Tapes Anything They Find In Used Books To The Walls Of Their Basement. It’s Reached A Point Where There Are Now Several Decades’ Worth Of Mysterious Papers Taped To The Wall. Looks Almost Like A Found Paper Museum!
I Found This Doodle On The Sidewalk Over 5 Years Ago And Finally Found Somewhere To Share It! I Wish I Knew Who Drew It!
Seems like something my dad would draw but the way this drawn is not his art style
Found In An Empty Classroom... I Don’t Know How To Feel About It
Published In 2017
Message In A Bottle...
1937 Letter To Santa - Unopened. Sorry- I Can’t Do It
Found Today On A Hike
This is freaky because my brothers name is Evan and mine is Benjamin, what a strange coincidence, this could be a sign of some sort. Who knows.
A Paper Found In A Middle School Classroom A While Back
Found Attached To A Popped Balloon In My Front Yard A Few Years Ago
On My Bus This Morning
Contractors Working In Our Basement Found A Package Of Letters Hidden In The Floorboards From The 1920s
Found Outside The Humane Society. Somebody Got A Cat
So My Sister Went Thrifting Recently
A Letter I Wrote To Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid) When I Was 12. I Gave The Envelope To My Mom To Mail But She Saved It. Now I Know Why He Never Wrote Me Back
Found This Cute Message Inside A Book!
Me N My BF Found This Hiding In A Bench While On Our Bike Ride Today!
A Drawing I Found In My Textbook Last Year
Sitting In A Waiting Room And Little Girl Probably Around 3 Or 4 Comes Up And Hands Me A Rolled Up Piece Of Paper And Says “Here” And Then Skips Away. I’ve Been Blessed
Found In A Hole In The Wall Of A Coffee Shop
Neighbor Found While Restoring Cabinets In A Frank Lloyd Wright Home
At The Market
A Tarot Card Found In The Wall Of My 120 Year Old Apartment Building
Looks more like 60’s or 70’s art plus the color processing wasn’t that great. Plus this is Rider Waite imagery and that didn’t come out until late Bel Epoch, so someone put it there.
Found In The Pocket Of Thrift Store Pants
Sad Note I Found On The Sidewalk Outside Of My House
Drawn On A Kid's Menu Someone Left At A Restaurant. No Name
Their parents found out the kid was too old for the children's menu. :(
Found This Face Down At 14th And N St Nw In Washington, Dc Today. Can We Get It To Its Owner?
Found A Card My Great-Uncle Made For My Great-Grandma. He Was An Advertising Illustrator In The 1950's. Scroll Through The Pics To See The Cute Flapper Lady He Painted In The Card
On My Morning Walk. Made My Heart Hurt A Little
Does Found-Found Paper Count? Found This On A Street Corner In A Neighborhood
Found On The Floor Of Goodwill In Boston, Ma And Couldn’t Leave It To Be Thrown Out. Remember Those Who No Longer Have Anyone To Remember Them
Opened A Used Copy Of Carrie By Stephen King And This Fell Out. Seems To Be A Legitimate Bicycle Card Somehow
Found This On R/Skamtebord
Found This At My Register When We Opened This Morning. Put It In My Wallet For Good Luck
My Grandparents Both Recently Passed Away And I Claimed A Few Books Novels From Their Shelves As We Cleaned Up. This Gem Was Inside One Book, From My Grandma To My Grandpa!
Inside A Copy Of Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet I Just Bought From A Thrift Store
Found On A Desk On The First Day Of School
Goodwill Finds. The Front Is Even Crazier
Found This At Breakfast This Morning. Thought Of Y’all Immediately
Found It In The Pocket Of A Denim Jacket I Bought In A Thrift Store
Found This Entire Jar Of Paper Behind A Trash Can
“Ways To Be Cool”
Found In A Hampton Inn, Littleton Nh. Thank You For The Poem
Gender Poem
Found In Borough Market, London In 2016, Liked It So Much I Framed It. Anyone Know The Artist?
Jay, Please
The Simpsons From Memory: Found In A Library Book
I Wonder If Sam Paid The Man...
Lisa’s Research Game Is On Point
I Found This In A Bible While Cleaning The Rooms At The Hotel I Work At. I Left It Exactly Where It Was. I Have No Idea What It Is
I Work At Goodwill And Thought I Was Hallucinating When I Found This In The Donation Box
Found Hanging On A Walking Trail
Found In A Goodwill Sitting All By Itself :( On The Back It Says June ‘94
My Friend’s Uncle Is Moving Out. Found This In A Box
man, that hits hard, and this is not sarcasm. I hope there was something in that book other than blank pages.
In A Van In A Junk Yard
This is why you should never throw away old tires-they never get over it.
Found Someone’s Grocery List. I Approve
I thought the second word was "scratch", which would have dramatically changed the tone of that note.
Disheartening Cards Against Humanity Remnant Found During Hurricane Cleanup In The Bahamas
Found In My Airbnb In North Carolina
Found This Stuck To A Minibar Menu In A Cheap Hotel On Khao San Road In Thailand A Few Years Ago. I Like To Think They Had Just Met And Spent Their First Night Together, And It Didn't Go Well
Found My To-Do List On My Run
A Staff Member At Home Depot Was Drawing This When We Went To Go Buy Some Major Appliances
Found This While Converting A School Bus. Some Jokes Are Eternal
Found Someone Else’s Image Of A Paper And Figured It Was Worth Sharing
Found While Walking My Dog
Found This On The Street Today
This Sign Flew At Me On A Windy Day In Austin Tx
Found This Prom Picture On Some Beach In Michigan
The Right To Enjoy Beautiful Things
Found In My School's Library
A Shopper With Simple Tastes And A Poor Memory
10 Dollars I Got A Few Months Ago
Overseen At College A Few Semesters Ago
Outside An Abandoned Building In Harlem, NY
Found While Walking Home Yesterday
I Found A Danny Devito On The Back It Says “You’ve Found A Lucky Danny Pick Him Up And You’ll Have Great Luck.”
The Real Question This Holiday Season...
Passively Amazing
Found This On My Car A Few Years Back. (My Vanity Plate Says “Iparty”)
Found This Post It In My Desk Drawer Along With Several Others With Sketches And Doodles. Quite Poetic
I Would Love To Know The Context Of This Note. I Found It In My Front Yard, Must Have Blown In From A Neighbor
Not Sure If Slides Count. Found These On My Morning Walk Today
I found a slide on the sidewalk once. It was a picture of the Shriners marching in a parade.
Found This Note On A Walk Today
Hug Your Mom Today If You Still Have One
Found During A Hotel Remodel. Curious How This Ended Up
Found On A Sidewalk
Found A Gun Safety Packet In The Baseboard Of A Closet Of A House We Wrecked
Found In My Dad's Old Car. Would Have Been The Last Time He Voted
Found At An Elementary School, Sounds Like A Party I Want To Go To. Who Doesn't Love Uno And Taquitos
Technically, Found Paper. Lying On The Ground While Getting Gas This Morning
Found Tucked Into A Crevice On The Side Of A Bridge
Message In A Bottle Found Washed Ashore On A Beach Near Me In Cornwall. “I Am The Only Man Alive Who Knows Who Killed Jfk”
This was NOT sent from the Floriday Quays, because there they spell it Keys. It was send from somewhere that Quay is more common, and where they don't know that Quay, Cay, and Key are all pronounced the same and mean the same thing for some fool reason. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/04/cay-key-quay.html
Brewery Production Floor - Grand Rapids, Mi
3rd Option Ended Up In The Gutter
Found In Handle Of 2006 Honda Pilot. Little Olivia Left A Note With Instructions To Call When Found. Top Is Front, Bottom Is Back
This Is The Best I Got, Homies. Found In A Tjmax Parking Lot
Found In A Goodwill
Under The Host Stand
Fergie
Found In The Playground During Recess. One Of My 5th Graders Is Going Home Broken Hearted
Found A Diary In My Town Dumpster!
Along My Bike Route
My husband can spackle drywall like a professional. I cannot. I have tried and tried - I end up with lumps, uneven coats, need to sand too much, can't "feather it out." I was given the attic crawlspace to help finish the attic. There is a note written in pencil in the far back where I had to scrunch in to spackle. "Please forgive the terrible spackle job in here. This was the one area I was allowed to do..."
Me and my friend once wrote a note and attached a jigsaw puzzle piece we found to it. We put it in a ziplock bag and tied it to a lamppost - I hope that person found their jigsaw piece.
My fave was buying a used book and someone had left a twenty in it as a bookmark. It was so old (book and bookmark) that the pic on it wasn't Jackson but Grover Cleveland!
A couple things I've found: 1. In high school, I was wiring some speakers in our living room and went into the crawl space beneath it and found a 6-pack of Black Label beer that must have been left there by the construction crew, and a catalogue from a local ski shop dated 1950, or so (this was 1988). The beer bottles were so old that you could break them by flicking them with your finger. 2. I was living in an apartment with really high ceilings, but the bathroom had a drop ceiling for some reason. One day I popped a tile to look up there and I found a plastic back containing a blonde wig, high heel shoes, some women's underwear, and two *really* sketchy porno tapes (yes, I checked them out - and very quickly turned them off).
I love making bookmarks out of thick cardboard paper and putting them in library books I read. I got the idea long, long ago when I found one that someone else had left in a book and I thought how nice that was. A bit of paper and a bit of beautiful gift wrap, maybe, stuck together with a braided string on the top. It was such a small thing but was a feeling of "community" I guess. I've probably made over 500 bookmarks in various libraries or even in leaving books to be "found". (https://www.bookcrossing.com) Things like this might make someone's day, and it's so fun (and free!)
My husband can spackle drywall like a professional. I cannot. I have tried and tried - I end up with lumps, uneven coats, need to sand too much, can't "feather it out." I was given the attic crawlspace to help finish the attic. There is a note written in pencil in the far back where I had to scrunch in to spackle. "Please forgive the terrible spackle job in here. This was the one area I was allowed to do..."
Me and my friend once wrote a note and attached a jigsaw puzzle piece we found to it. We put it in a ziplock bag and tied it to a lamppost - I hope that person found their jigsaw piece.
My fave was buying a used book and someone had left a twenty in it as a bookmark. It was so old (book and bookmark) that the pic on it wasn't Jackson but Grover Cleveland!
A couple things I've found: 1. In high school, I was wiring some speakers in our living room and went into the crawl space beneath it and found a 6-pack of Black Label beer that must have been left there by the construction crew, and a catalogue from a local ski shop dated 1950, or so (this was 1988). The beer bottles were so old that you could break them by flicking them with your finger. 2. I was living in an apartment with really high ceilings, but the bathroom had a drop ceiling for some reason. One day I popped a tile to look up there and I found a plastic back containing a blonde wig, high heel shoes, some women's underwear, and two *really* sketchy porno tapes (yes, I checked them out - and very quickly turned them off).
I love making bookmarks out of thick cardboard paper and putting them in library books I read. I got the idea long, long ago when I found one that someone else had left in a book and I thought how nice that was. A bit of paper and a bit of beautiful gift wrap, maybe, stuck together with a braided string on the top. It was such a small thing but was a feeling of "community" I guess. I've probably made over 500 bookmarks in various libraries or even in leaving books to be "found". (https://www.bookcrossing.com) Things like this might make someone's day, and it's so fun (and free!)