How to Have Old Fashioned Handwriting

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Reading original, handwritten documents or primary sources can be a unique claiming. The handwriting in old documents such as letters, diary entries, and ledgers may appear illegible at start glance. Learning the bones tips and tricks of paleography, or the study of former handwriting, can help y'all recognize and sympathize the timeworn text. Whether you are reviewing primary sources for a dissertation or thesis at schoolhouse, studying historical documents to enquiry your family unit history, or simply reading old family letters, paleography can help unlock stories and histories from the by.

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Brand copies. To protect the principal source, never work with the original document when possible. Browse and brand several copies of the document. This way you lot tin can handle the document without fear of damaging information technology and y'all tin make notations directly on the page. Scanning will also allow you to overstate portions of the document that may be particularly catchy to decipher.
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Catch a dictionary. Brand sure you lot accept a dictionary on hand in case you come up across unfamiliar or archaic words.

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Know what type of certificate information technology is. Looking at the big picture tin help identify the certificate's intention, which tin help you understand the text. Certain documents may utilise item phrases, jargon, and abbreviations, so it is important to understand what type of document y'all are working with.^[1]
- Is it a personal document, like a letter or journal entry? If then, you may run into more personalized, unique phrases or character formations.
- Is it an official government ledger, like a tax record or a census record? If and then, you may come across frequently used legal terms and official, regime abbreviations. Knowing this information can help point you to the right resources.^[ii]
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Research the document's history. Placing the document within a historical context is immensely helpful for successfully reading the handwriting and understanding its significant. It can be helpful to know who wrote the document, why they wrote it, and the historical and political environment he or she was in when the certificate was written.^[3]

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ane

Read the letters "s" and "f" carefully. In English, the letter of the alphabet "due south" was often written equally a backward "f." In the middle of some words, you may see the modern-day symbol for "f" where an "s" should be. For case, the name "Massachusetts" could be written every bit "Maffachufetts."^[4] Beingness mindful of this common character divergence can help save a lot of time and patience when reading old handwriting.
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Look for interchangeable messages. Be aware that some letters were often interchanged in old documents and are not necessarily misspellings.
- For instance, in English the alphabetic character "i" was oft changed to "y," so that the word "mine" tin be seen as "myne."^[v]
- The letters "u" and "five" were frequently interchanged in English as well. For example, the word "ever" could be written as "euer," or the discussion "unto" could exist seen equally "vnto."
- "J" was oftentimes interchanged in English language with "i," then that the name "James" may announced as "Iames."^[6]
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Notice spelling variations. Words in old documents were often spelled phonetically, or how they sounded in the local dialect.^[7] English spelling was not standardized until the 18th century, so understanding the context of a document may be difficult for mod-day readers. Try maxim the word out loud and refer to your dictionary when y'all come across these spelling variations.

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1

Understand infinite-saving characters. Abbreviations, contractions, and symbols were oftentimes used to salvage time and space on newspaper, which was a very expensive commodity.^[eight] You will almost likely come beyond autograph references in your inquiry.
2

Look for "th" replacements. The letter "y" frequently stood in for the letters "th" in English documents. You may come beyond the discussion "ye" in a document, which could be an abbreviation for the discussion "the."
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Look for symbols. Signs and symbols were often used to signify a certain word, and y'all will most likely run across one or ii in your research.^[9]
- The symbol "@" can be used to supervene upon the word "per."^[ten] If you come beyond "@ week," for example, that will most likely hateful "per week."
- In English, a short, wavy line that appears over a letter or grouping of letters is chosen a tittle. This symbol indicates the exclusion of the letter "m" or "n" or the omission of the suffix "tion."
- A very common symbol is "&," commonly known as the ampersand, and is used to point the word "and." Pay attention to this symbol as it frequently has personal variations and can alter from author to writer.^[11]
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Transcribe the document. Review each word and letter of the document and write downward the words, messages, and abbreviations that you recognize on a carve up piece of paper. Get out a bare space for the words you don't recognize.
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Read the document aloud. Hearing the text may help you to recognize unfamiliar words and can help place antiquated words in a modern context.^[12]
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Transcribe abbreviations. Writing down an abbreviations key on a separate slice of paper is a keen way to keep track of the abbreviations used in the document. Information technology is likewise handy to refer back to while studying the document.
4

Trace the letters. If you are having a difficult fourth dimension understanding the handwriting, endeavor writing the words yourself. Place tracing paper over the photocopy of your certificate and trace each give-and-take with a pen. Creating the characters yourself and understanding the motion may help you understand the differences and the overall context of the primary source. ^[13]
5

Have your time. Be sure to analyze and review the document carefully and slowly, taking time to study each discussion and letter of the alphabet. You lot may miss the meaning if you zoom through the document, so be sure non to rush.^[14]

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Can colouring also assist your handwriting?

The nameless monster

Community Answer

If you focus on how you're moving your hands while coloring, then it definitely can. Don't hurry; colour gently. Focus on how you're moving your hands and the outputs given by the movements.

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If you go stuck on a word, motility on. You can revisit it once you accept worked through the document and have a better sense of its overall meaning and context.^[fifteen]
Give your eyes a residual. If you are spending a lot of time reading a certificate, exist certain to remainder your eyes every hour or then by looking at a far-away object. This volition aid forbid headaches and eyestrain.^[16]
Practice! Information technology takes time and endeavour to learn how to decipher sometime handwriting. Continual effort, research, and determination will meliorate your skills over time.