Browse Exhibits (1 total)

Lists: Organizing Everyday Life

rachel list.jpg

To-do lists, reminders, schedules, and shopping lists help individuals remember tasks to be completed, items to be purchased, upcoming meetings and events, and the order in which these things all need to happen. 

As these various examples demonstrate, list-making is not a process that happens once and is then finished. Whether composed in print or digitally, lists are meant to be viewed multiple times, and altered as needed with each viewing. Some writers do this with checkmarks, others by crossing items out. Some items appear in lists multiple times, as tasks from a previous day remain incomplete and need to be added to a later date. Still other lists are adjusted to show progress made on a task, or to approximate how much time or work still remains to be done before the item can be fully "checked off the list." 

This exhibit is organized into three categories: schedule lists, task lists, and shopping lists. Though each category serves a distinct purpose, all three categories demonstrate the writers' needs to organize their thoughts and their lives by writing things down. 

 

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