One does not need to be a Joseph Beuys expert to understand his "smallest records." An unbound notebook in the form of loose sheets and notes, they are always readable as independent texts and text images beyond the context of the artistic work. Conceptual study, philosophical reflection, poetic fragment, and political treatise define the space in which the notes operate, without concern for definitions of literary genres. What connects them over more than four decades and across various phases of work is less a specific form than the enduring interest of their author in focusing and advancing his own thinking through writing. Graphically and in terms of style, some elements are reminiscent of endeavors in symbolic-conceptual world mapping, such as those by Swedenborg or Jakob Böhme, which Beuys referenced.