Want to share an important piece of information? Make sure everyone knows about that upcoming meeting? Is there a congregation of soccer moms getting together at the local Starbucks after work?
Is Friday casual dress day and you need to tell everyone they can lay off the business casual? Great! That means you need a memo to be sent out!
National Memo Day celebrates something that has been a sacred (or loathed depending on who you ask…) source of communication within the business world — the memo!
National Memo Day Timeline
Latin “memorandum” enters English
The noun “memorandum,” from the Latin “memorandus” meaning “to be remembered,” appears in Middle English, first referring broadly to notes or records meant to jog memory.
“Memorandum book” used in English business practice
English records from the late 17th century describe “memorandum books” as small volumes for merchants and professionals to jot down transactions and reminders, an early form of organized memo-keeping.
Rise of printed memo and memo-order forms
With industrial printing and expanding commerce, stationers in Britain and the United States sell preprinted “memorandum” and “memo” books, pads, and order forms, standardizing short written messages in offices and shops.
Commercial typewriter begins transforming office memos
The introduction of the Remington No. 1 typewriter in 1874 makes it practical to produce legible, standardized internal notes and memoranda, helping to reshape office communication practices.
Carbon copies and interoffice memo culture expand
By the 1920s, typewriters combined with carbon paper allow secretaries to create multiple copies of memoranda, which are circulated through growing systems of interoffice mail in large corporations and government agencies.
First large-scale corporate email experiment for internal messages
The Multics project at MIT, Bell Labs, and General Electric develops an early electronic mail system in which users leave electronic messages for one another, foreshadowing the shift of internal memos from paper to computers.
Ray Tomlinson sends first networked email
Computer engineer Ray Tomlinson sends the first email between networked machines on ARPANET, and messages quickly start to be used as electronic memoranda within research and technical communities.
How to Celebrate National Memo Day
Write a Memo
To celebrate National Memo Day, it all starts with sending someone a memo! It really is that simple.
Whether it’s in the form of a Post-It note on the fridge, a message in their lunchbox reminding them of a Doctor’s appointment, or an email to your boss reminding him to send out the memos to the rest of your co-workers, make sure you get a memo out today!
But, this all may be great, but you may be wondering how do you write one?
Brush Up on Memo Skills
The format of a memo is simple. You write “Memo” or “Memorandum” at the top, followed by a To line, a From line, a Dateline, a Subject line, and then the actual body of the message.
Traditionally, you would print out a memo and distribute it to the relevant parties inside your small business. The best ending for a memo is a clear closing action, stated in the last paragraph.
And, be very clear about what you want your reader to know or do after reading the memo, which makes it easy for your reader to respond.
Get Creative with Memos
Just like that, you have written your first (or maybe multiple) memos! You can play around with it too, as you are not sending the memo to be official.
Add what you like, be creative, the whole idea of National Memo Day is to have fun and play around with the humble memo, and celebrate something that never really gets spoken about but impacts many factions in life, every single day.
Learn More About Memos
Not sure what kind of memo to send? It’s time to do a little research! You have Directive memos, where instructions are given.
Then there are the Status or progress report memos, where you report on the status or progress of some project or event.
Lastly, but by no means a conclusion of the types of memos, you have the Field or trip report memos, where you document key information about events that occurred in the field or during a trip.
So, go out and research, and pick what type of memo you are going to use when you go out and send your memo for National Memo Day!
National Memo Day celebrates all forms of memos, from Grey Literature to Bench Memorandums! With the digital age in full swing, it can be a really nice change to send someone you know a physical piece of communication in the form of a memo.
Not only are they personal, but also unexpected, and bring some light to whoever you send them too (Of course, that all depends on what you write inside it!).
So go out, and celebrate National Memo Day with sending someone, or many people you know, a personal and memorable memo!
History of National Memo Day
National Memo Day was founded more than 35 years ago, in 1989, by radio station KMJI Majic which (at the time) was found at FM 100.3 in Denver, Colorado.
It was a sort of tongue-in-cheek way to celebrate those pesky little pieces of paper that would clog up offices and desks in the American Workplace. Of course, this was before email changed the whole world of memos!
As for the actual memo, the history of this little note goes back much further than you might suspect. The word ‘memo’ comes from the latin ‘memorandum’ a word that means, appropriately enough ‘It must be remembered’.
The purpose of a Memo was to aid memory by putting notification of events and observations in written communication.
Originally this was done with hand-written communication, and then developed with mechanical writing forms like the printing press, typewriter, and printer, and now into the digital age with email!
It can sometimes be forgotten that before the world of instant messaging and emailing that the world revolved around physical communications.
The term memorandum has become so fundamental to business and other official communications that there are specifically classified forms of memorandums.
Consider the Policy briefing note: this little memo actually serves an incredibly vital role in the development of policy by judicial and governmental bodies. Once a political analysis of a situation or condition has been done, it’s transmitted to those who make the decisions in the form of a policy briefing note!
That means every day our lives are affected in countless ways by memos, and you definitely have not seen all the ways in which a memo impacts your life on a daily basis. Whether you get a raise, a particular product gets developed, or that zoning request goes through could all be determined by the humble memo.
Ever been in a court case? Prior to your actual day in court, information was provided to the judge in the form of a ‘bench memorandum’, containing a brief overview of the case including lawyer’s arguments and other information needed to come to a decision about the case as a whole.
Facts About National Memo Day
Memos Help People Remember by Offloading Information from the Brain
Psychologists describe notes and written reminders as “external memory aids,” because they move details out of a person’s limited working memory and onto paper or a screen.
Research on prospective memory, which is the ability to remember to do things in the future, has shown that people are significantly more likely to follow through on tasks when they use written prompts such as notes, lists, or reminder slips instead of relying only on memory.
The Modern Business Memo Took Shape in the Early 20th Century
While written memoranda existed for centuries, the familiar internal business memo format with standardized headings such as “To,” “From,” “Date,” and “Subject” spread widely in the early 1900s alongside the typewriter and carbon paper.
Office manuals from that era show companies formalizing short, focused internal messages as distinct from letters, which were typically reserved for external correspondence and had more elaborate openings and closings.
Internal Memos Have Shaped Major Government Policies
In government, a short internal memorandum can influence decisions that affect millions of people. For example, internal Justice Department memorandums have guided how U.S. presidents interpret their legal powers, including wartime authority and surveillance practices.
These memos, often written by the Office of Legal Counsel, do not go through public debate but can effectively determine how laws are applied inside the executive branch.
Bench Memoranda Quietly Guide Judges Behind the Scenes
In many courts, law clerks prepare a bench memorandum before oral argument to brief the judge on the facts, issues, and key arguments in a case.
Judicial guides explain that these memos often summarize the record, highlight controlling precedents, and sometimes recommend how to rule, which means a private, structured memo frequently frames how a judge approaches a case long before a written opinion appears.
Briefing Notes and Memos Are Core Tools in Public Administration
Public servants commonly use short briefing notes and memoranda to update ministers, agency heads, or city managers on issues that need decisions.
Training materials for civil servants emphasize that these documents must be concise, neutral in tone, and organized so a decision maker can understand the problem, options, and recommended action quickly, which is why they follow tightly controlled formats.
Despite Email, Paper Memos and Notes Persist in Offices
Studies of workplace communication show that even in highly digital environments, people still rely on printed notes and short paper messages for certain tasks, such as leaving information on a colleague’s desk or tracking quick to‑do items.
Research on “paper in knowledge work” has found that many workers prefer physical documents and handwritten notes for activities that involve annotation, spatial organization on a desk, or quick visual scanning throughout the day.
