Reading Old Handwriting - a game!

[lupaglupa]

Anyone doing research inevitably comes across handwritten documents. And anyone confronted with handwritten documents finds themselves challenged by the hard-to-read writing of our ancestors. Some folks seem to have a real knack for reading 19th-century script (I'm looking at you @lelliott19) but most of us struggle!

I found this fun game at the website of Reed College which gives the player an opportunity to test their skills in reading old letters. It's fun and an eye-opener about the many different, and sometimes confusing, ways out ancestors wrote the alphabet.

Early American Handwriting

www.reed.edu

 

[Mike Serpa]

Anyone doing research inevitably comes across handwritten documents. And anyone confronted with handwritten documents finds themselves challenged by the hard-to-read writing of our ancestors. Some folks seem to have a real knack for reading 19th-century script (I'm looking at you @lelliott19) but most of us struggle!

I found this fun game at the website of Reed College which gives the player an opportunity to test their skills in reading old letters. It's fun and an eye-opener about the many different, and sometimes confusing, ways out ancestors wrote the alphabet.

Early American Handwriting

www.reed.edu

That was difficult. I finally gave up and clicked on the answers. Some of those look nothing like what they are supposed to be!

 

[lupaglupa]

I got about 2/3 correct before I had to quit. It's especially hard to read the letters when they are out of context like that. When they are written within a word that gives you a clue.

 

[Mike Serpa]

I got about 2/3 correct before I had to quit. It's especially hard to read the letters when they are out of context like that. When they are written within a word that gives you a clue.

You stuck with it longer than I did!

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Anyone doing research inevitably comes across handwritten documents. And anyone confronted with handwritten documents finds themselves challenged by the hard-to-read writing of our ancestors. Some folks seem to have a real knack for reading 19th-century script (I'm looking at you @lelliott19) but most of us struggle!

I found this fun game at the website of Reed College which gives the player an opportunity to test their skills in reading old letters. It's fun and an eye-opener about the many different, and sometimes confusing, ways out ancestors wrote the alphabet.

Early American Handwriting

www.reed.edu

Trust me - it's Not Fun. I have transcribed about a hundred pages of Revolutionary War pension applications........Not Fun, but rewarding!

 

[Fairfield]

It takes a lot of practice--but it's doable. I have an associate who has mastered colonial writing--and reads it as easily as today's newspapers. But she's been at it for years! She is the one I go to when I am stuck. Knowing a lot about the context of the original writing helps too.

However, as difficult as earlier American writing is, be grateful that the ACW didn't take place in Denmark! Nothing is more difficult--IMO--than 19th century Danish writing. It's based on German and is filled with characters that cannot be translated because they stand for various letter combinations.

I think that it is important to remember when reading a transcript that the "translator" may have made mistakes because s/he couldn't decipher the original.

 

[lupaglupa]

Here in Albany there's a small group of people who are fluent in reading the Dutch of Nieuw Amsterdam. They have been able to translate and transcribe thousands of documents from the earliest history of New York. A very narrow specialty!

 

[JOHN42768]

I hit about 2/3's also. A challenge.

 

[bankerpapaw]

Note: My Mother had a beautiful handwriting. She paid attention in handwriting class. Remember the Letter Charts at the top of the blackboards?

 

[donna]

Old handwriting is so hard to read at times. I have a couple documents that I can't figure the words. One is name of cemetery my great great grandfather Jesse Nichols buried in. I finally had library in Frankfort where it is supposed to be found look at it. They couldn't figure either. Maybe one day someone will be able to figure out. I would like to know as this one of my ancestors who fought in Civil War.

Another hard ones to decipher are Ellis Island documents. I have many who came thru Ellis Island. I can't read some of information on them and if could would give me clues as to where they came from.

 

[Stryker65]

Anyone doing research inevitably comes across handwritten documents. And anyone confronted with handwritten documents finds themselves challenged by the hard-to-read writing of our ancestors. Some folks seem to have a real knack for reading 19th-century script (I'm looking at you @lelliott19) but most of us struggle!

I found this fun game at the website of Reed College which gives the player an opportunity to test their skills in reading old letters. It's fun and an eye-opener about the many different, and sometimes confusing, ways out ancestors wrote the alphabet.

Early American Handwriting

www.reed.edu

This is very true! @lelliott19 and others helped me transcribe the various cursive names I found in the 1865 Meridian Officers' Parole lists. With her help, I could reduce my number of unknowns from thirty to one.

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

Sometimes I can't read my own handwriting.

 

[TallTallMan]

I can't do it! I gave up at 19, so I didn't do too bad.

 

[Pollaco]

I don't get to read through any old documents but the signatures on old Confederate Currency can be a bit of a mystery sometimes. It can almost be a guessing game at times.

 

[Old Soldier]

Many immigrants came from Germany. They adapted their handwriting to American English. At that time there were a number of them doing the rounds, a popular one being Kurrentschrift ("cursive script") or simply Kurrent. It went by a number of other names too. This was the one that Danish script was based upon

The lower lines show the umlaut vowels Note that the umlaut was written AFTER the letter in capitals
Under that , ch ck sh sch ss(ß) and st.

Also bear in mind that handwriting varied with ability - and which hand was used, although formal education usually made evetyone write right-handed.

 

[Belfoured]

Sometimes I can't read my own handwriting.

With mine, sometimes I can read it. Anybody who thinks they're really good at this needs to take and pass a real test. I generally recommend Emory Upton's handwriting.

 

[firstflabn]

In the last minutes of a research trip, I found and copied a very important (to me) letter; the writer was of interest to me, so an automatic one to make a copy of. I stuffed it onto my case and started the 400 mile drive home. Looking through my plunder the next day, still tired from the wear and tear - particularly eyeballs - I started trying to read this important page.

The handwriting wasn't too bad - and I thought I had gotten pretty decent at deciphering 19th Century steel pen scribblings. Just as I got to the critical part of the letter, nothing made sense. I blinked, shook my head and tried again. Nope. Put it down 'til after lunch, tried again. Nope.

Later that day it came to me - the letter had split from folding and refolding and had been taped back together - but with the sections misaligned. My brain was relying on context to read the words and the misalignment put the brakes on that process.

I laugh now when I flip through the file and see that letter.

 

[peacefulanimalguy7]

I gave up with 8 letters left

 

[lupaglupa]

I gave up with 8 letters left

That's terrific!