Indiana Jones' journal

"Use it as a journal or diary. Write down anything that interests or strikes you."

- Henry Jones

Indiana Jones kept a diary of his adventures from 1908 to at least 1957. He carried it with him well into his 90s.



Jones was given the diary by his father Henry Jones, Sr., after the Jones family had arrived in Egypt in 1908. He used it to document all of his childhood and teen adventures. It served as a record of places he had been, things he had learned, and people he had met. However, he used a different and smaller journal during his search for the Ark of the Covenant in 1936.

The cover featured an ibis, the symbol of the Egyptian god Thoth (the scribe of the gods); other shapes on the cover look like papyrus.

Behind the scenes
The diary first appeared in "Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal", and mirrors Henry Sr.'s Grail diary seen in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In addition to playing a role in various episodes, Old Indy is seen opening the diary in the opening credits to each episode, and closing the diary in the closing credits of each episode.

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones DVD sets are designed to look like the diary. They also reveal some of Jones' entries. Additionally, the DVD sets feature an interactive timeline which reveals much of the diary's contents. The diary can also be seen on a menu on the official website for LEGO Indiana Jones: The Video Game. The diary, along with many other Indiana Jones props, is on display at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. As a tie-in to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a book and calendar was released based on the diary.

The adventure game Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade features an inventory item that can be obtained when the player visits the Jones house; this item is a diary that Indy kept when little, and is described to be similar to the Grail diary. This diary can be useful at a certain point, since the player can fool Vogel giving it to him, instead of the real Grail diary, when confronted. Although we can suppose that the game item is the very same diary seen in the series, it must be noted that the game predated the TV series by 3 years; to date there has not been any connection of that item with the diary seen in the series.

Appearances

 * The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
 * Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal
 * "London, May 1916"
 * "British East Africa, September 1909"
 * Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father
 * "Verdun, September 1916"
 * "German East Africa, December 1916"
 * Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen
 * Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
 * LEGO Indiana Jones Adventures
 * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade game