Prior to the 20th century, many different forms of cursive writing existed, varying in style between decades and centuries. Referring to some of the common conventions, names, and abbreviations below may help as you transcribe historical documents, as will reviewing the text in full for contextual clues.

Jan 17, 2025 · The National Archives is brimming with historical documents written in cursive, including some that date back more than 200 years.

Old Roman cursive, also called majuscule cursive and capitalis cursive, was the everyday form of handwriting used for writing letters, by merchants writing business accounts, by schoolchildren learning the Latin alphabet, and even by emperors issuing commands.

While instructions will help you begin writing in old-fashioned cursive, only continuous drills and practice will give you flawless, ornamental penmanship.

Check out the resources and information below for help, and share your tips with fellow volunpeers by emailing the TC team at [email protected]! - Genealogy Bank: Deciphering 19th Century Handwriting. - Ancestry.com: "Tips for Reading Old Handwriting" - U.S. National Archives: Transcription Tips.

Aug 4, 2023 · Access online tutorials and helps for reading the handwriting in old English records at the following web sites: England & Wales Handwriting 1500 to 1800 (click on links on upper left side of page) - The National Archives; Tutorial on Reading English Script - Brigham Young University website

Literally, palaeography means ‘old writing’, from the Greek words ‘paleos’ = old, and ‘grapho’ = write. It is generally used nowadays to describe reading old handwriting, rather than its original meaning of interpretation of ancient scripts.

Mar 5, 2024 · In antiquity, a cursive form of handwriting was used in writing on papyrus in the Greek alphabet. Some features of this handwriting were later adopted into Greek minuscule, the dominant form of handwriting in the medieval and early modern era.

If you're struggling to read a document written in old handwriting, start by watching this handy video tutorial. It will give you some tips and tricks to use when deciphering historical cursive.

Cursive scripts contain letter forms made with as few strokes of the pen as possible. They were first developed for the speedy copying of official documents or records, but gradually became used for copying other types of text.