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Chapter V

Read old handwriting, letter by letter

American hands from 1780 to 1920, shown on real records: the long s, the tricky capitals, clerk's abbreviations and the old numbers.

Lesson 1 · 1800‑1880

Capital letters that fool everyone: I and J, L and S, T and F

 Lesson 2 · 1850‑1880

Census enumerator hands, 1850 to 1880

 Lesson 3 · 1780‑1880

Reading clerk's hands in deeds and wills

 Lesson 4 · 1850‑1900

Copperplate and Spencerian basics

 Lesson 5 · 1720‑1850

The double s: ss written as ſs or a ß-like shape

 Lesson 6 · 1700‑1830

The long s (ſ) and how to spot it

 Lesson 7 · 1800‑1870

Lowercase e, c and r in 19th-century hands

 Lesson 8 · 1730‑1880

Numbers: 1 and 7, 4 and 9, and old dates

 Lesson 9 · 1900‑1920

Palmer method basics

 Lesson 10 · 1780‑1880

Superscript abbreviations: Jno, Wm, Sam'l, yr

 Lesson 11 · 1690‑1820

Thorn: why ye means "the"

 Lesson 12 · 1780‑1900

Reading signatures and marks