Tools to help decipher handwriting?

May 28, 2014 6:37 PM

I do a good bit of genealogy research at work and help others with theirs as well. I want to get better at deciphering handwriting (in English) from the colonial period onward. Has anyone used any specific resources that helped them with this? I don't need a certification or anything but I would like to be able to show I've done my research in this area. Thanks!
posted by justnathan to Education (4 answers total)

This is referred to as paleography. I've used the Brigham Young University tutorials in germanic gothic scripts, but not their English scripts tutorial specifically.
posted by muddgirl at 6:46 PM on May 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

Another good paleography tutorial site here -- English, not American, but I'd imagine the scripts would have had a good deal of overlap.
posted by Bardolph at 7:07 PM on May 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

I work with historic documents and sometimes use an online crossword dictionary to help me figure out mysterious hand written words when I'm transcribing something. Seeing a list of possible other words often helps!
posted by zem at 7:47 PM on May 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: English Handwriting 1500-1700: An Online Course (mainly designed for literary students; good selection of examples, graded in difficulty from 1 to 5)

Early Modern Palaeography (designed for historians; wider variety of hands, including various forms of court hand)

Reading Early Modern Handwriting (online tutorial, particularly helpful in identifying distinctive features of individual hands)
posted by verstegan at 11:34 PM on May 28, 2014 [2 favorites]