According to the US Postal Service, the average household receives less than ten pieces of personal mail a year. In 2018, a survey of British school children found that half have never sent a handwritten letter. As students and researchers have fewer opportunities to encounter handwriting in their daily lives, visits to archives often result in a tendency to favor typewritten documents that can be read or skimmed quickly. After all, time spent visiting archives is usually limited. Yet skipping handwritten documents means that some of the most interesting materials in archival collections are overlooked.

The study of historical handwriting is called paleography. This guide is meant as a resource for students and scholars of all levels looking for a bit of practice. The examples are from public domain performing arts collections at the Harry Ransom Center, but the practice is useful for anyone conducting archival research regardless of your subject area. Additional examples will be added in time, but you can find many more on your own through the many free digital collections available online.

Published: March 10, 2019
Updated: June 15, 2020

Tips:

  • Take your time. It can take time to get accustomed to a particular person’s handwriting, but within five to ten minutes, your brain adjusts and you will typically get faster at recognizing how the writer is shaping certain letters. Patience and practice are the words to remember.
  • Think of transcription like a puzzle. If you can’t transcribe a certain word, look around it for clues and see if you can understand what it is within the context of the rest of the sentence or given the shape of letters found in recognizable words.
  • Copy it out. Look closely at how a difficult letter or word is shaped. Imagine how a pen or pencil moved to create it. Recreating that small bit of writing on a separate piece of paper can help identify challenging handwriting.
  • Take breaks. Especially for long documents, it can often help to take a break, focus on something else for a bit, and then return with fresh eyes.
  • Ask others. When all else fails and you’ve tried your hardest, sometimes asking someone else can provide the fresh perspective you need to identify a difficult word.
  • Summarize. Sometimes, in the rush to transcribe a document, we focus too much on transcribing what is being said rather than understanding what is being said. Once you’ve transcribed a paragraph or a full document, try writing a brief summary in your own words.

Handwriting Samples for Practice

Easy

Moderate

Difficult

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