Vol.25, No. 11	Jan. 21, 2000

How Does Yours Compare? 400 Years of Penmanship on Display in Butler Library

By Lauren Marshall

Hand-written documents and printed writing manuals from 1658 to the present day chronicle the evolution of handwriting style and the methods of teaching penmanship in a new exhibition, "'Take great Care and you'll Write fair': Four Centuries of American Handwriting," at the Kempner Exhibition Gallery of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library on the 6th floor of Butler.

Capturing gradual changes in writing style over four centuries, the exhibition begins with items written in the cramped gothic secretary hand, developed in the 1400s, and ends with the simplified D'Nealian taught to today's elementary students. Showing how handwriting styles adapted to changes in society and commerce, the exhibit also features examples of the italic hand, the "grandfather" of modern handwriting; round hand, a style that dominated writing for almost two hundred years through the 19th century; running hand; and late 19th century commercial cursive.

Because commerce depended upon pen and ink to record transactions and conduct correspondence before the typewriter, handwriting evolved from a specialized practice of the elite to an indispensable skill of the masses. From the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century, the demand increased steadily for handwriting that was faster to execute and easier to read and learn.

The exhibition, which runs through March 3, includes the following highlights: a letter written in 1779 by George Washington showing his distinctive flowing round hand and a letter written in 1781 by Benjamin Franklin, who felt that legibility, pleasing appearance and economy were important factors in handwriting as well as typography.

Other documents include deeds to Manhattan property predating the Declaration of Independence, written exercises of writing students, the written Latin exercise of a student at King's College (which was Columbia University prior to the American Revolution), examples of ornamental penmanship, including a copy of George Bickham's The Universal Penman (London 1741), and samples of "ladies' hands," which were designated by writing masters as "suitable" for women throughout the centuries.

The exhibition is drawn primarily from the Library's splendid Plimpton Collection formed by George Arthur Plimpton (1855-1936), senior partner of the textbook publishers, Ginn & Company, and one of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library's most generous donors. From his days in law school, Plimpton set about collecting material on the history of education, in which writing was an important subject. Plimpton's materials on the history of writing demonstrate the scope and depth of his collection, which ranges from medieval manuscripts to the American copybooks that form the backbone of this exhibit.

In conjunction with the exhibition, E. Jennifer Monaghan of Brooklyn College will give a lecture at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library on Jan. 25, at 6:00 p.m., entitled " 'First with Writing fall in Love': Masters and Students at Boston's Eighteenth-Century Writing Schools."

For more information on the exhibition and the lecture, contact the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at 854-5153.