Tips to reading historical writing
This Video from the University of North Carolina Wilmington describes many of the problems faced by researchers when trying to read and understand historical handwritten texts.
Abbreviations often found in Historical Documents
Chart taken from E. Kay Kirkham, The Handwriting of American Records for a Period of 300 Years (Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1973).
Along the same lines, several phrases that were frequently used in letter writing will often be abbreviated as well. It was common to sign letters with the phrase “your obedient servant,” and you will often see this abbreviated as “yr obt svt.”
Other common abbreviations are viz., which stands for the Latin term “videlicet” and is used as a synonym for “namely” or “in other words.” You may also encounter the abbreviations “inst.," "ult.," and "prox.” These stand for the Latin terms “instante mense, ultimo mense, and proximo mense” and they mean “this month, last month, and next month.” If the document you’re transcribing includes a phrase like “Yours of the 14th inst. at hand,” that means the writer is responding to a letter they received from the addressee on the 14th of the current month.
Text courtesy of the Archivists at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Roundhand Script English from 1600's
Resources for Handwriting Evaluation
- English Language Resources and Handwriting HelpsHelp with reading various forms of handwriting in English with links to multiple other languages from Family Search.
- Paleography: Interpreting Handwriting in Genealogical ResearchLibrary of Congress research guide on reading and understanding handwritten documents. Provides links to other resources on the various handwriting types.
- BYU Script TutorialGuide to deciphering documents written in archaic handwriting styles or alphabets.
- How to Read 18th Century British-American WritingExamples of 18th century Colonial writing.
- How to Read Medieval Handwriting (Paleography) - HarvardDiscussions on reading the documents from the medieval period.
American Cursive Introduction
Brief introduction of the cursive alphabet - upper and lower case. Music only 4 min.
Brief introduction on formation of cursive words. Music only. 6 min.
Palmer Method common in 20th Century
The Palmer Method was devised as a simplification of the Spencerian Script in 1888.
Spencerian Script common from 1850-1925
Spencerian Script was a form of Copperplate that dated from the 16th century.
From Spencerian key to practical penmanship by Spencer, H. C. (Henry Caleb); Spencer, Platt R https://archive.org/details/cu31924029485467/
Copy of the Magna Carta originally written 1215
Corresponence
- Personal & Business CorrespondenceReview the common parts of a personal letter and business correspondence including problems of both. Complements of UNCW
Anaylyzing Photographs for Reality
- Real or AI Quiz: Can you tell the difference?Select the real photo in this quiz introducing how to evaluate photographs to determine if they are AI. From the Encyclopedia Britannica.