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Handwriting · 1850‑1900

Copperplate and Spencerian basics

Most of the clerks, ministers and teachers who wrote your ancestors' records between about 1850 and 1900 learned Spencerian script, the American school hand taught from Platt Rogers Spencer's copybooks. It grew out of the older English round hand, often called copperplate, that you see in documents from around 1800. Both lean to the right, both use shaded downstrokes and thin upstrokes, and both love big oval loops on the capitals.

The lowercase letters are usually easy. The trouble is in the capitals, which were built from the same few ovals and loops, so several of them look alike. In this lesson you will see real capitals from a will of 1803, a marriage license of 1880 and a business letter of 1884, and learn the small details that tell them apart.

Letter by letter

Handwritten word Contemplating in a slanted round hand
Round hand (copperplate), about 1800 Look at the even slant, the thick downstrokes and hairline upstrokes, and the C that starts with a small hook and closes in a big oval. Spencerian script grew out of this older round hand.George Wythe; Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Public domain
Flourished words Quincy, Ill. in Spencerian script
Q that looks like a 2 The Spencerian capital Q is a big oval loop that ends in a flat stroke along the line, so it looks like a fancy number 2. Here it starts the town name Quincy, followed by Ill. for Illinois, with a tall looped I.D. L. Musselman, Gem City Business College, Quincy, Illinois, Public domain
The name John S. Scott written in Spencerian script on a printed license form
J and S The J of John starts high above the line with a heavy shaded stroke and ends in a wide loop to the left. In many hands the J also drops below the line, but this clerk kept it on the line, so look at the top: the J begins with a tall shaded stem. The S of S. and of Scott is a large loop that stands on the line with a little curl at the bottom left.Probate Court of Harrison County, Ohio; Columbus Metropolitan Library, Public domain
The surname Dickerson written in Spencerian script
D The Spencerian D starts with a shaded stem, makes a small loop at the foot that sits on the line, then sweeps up and around into a big oval. Do not read it as a fancy O or a Q: an O has no loop at the bottom.Probate Court of Harrison County, Ohio; Columbus Metropolitan Library, Public domain
The word Eighty in Spencerian script below printed words in the year of our
E that looks like a backward 3 The capital E is made of two loops, one small on top and a larger one below, so it looks like a backward 3. This one starts the word Eighty in the year of the license.Probate Court of Harrison County, Ohio; Columbus Metropolitan Library, Public domain
The words business men in Spencerian script
Shaded lowercase and the double s Small letters are simple: short, even, and slanted. Notice the shading on the downstrokes and the two s letters in business, written one after the other with pointed tops.D. L. Musselman, Gem City Business College, Quincy, Illinois, Public domain
The month September written in Spencerian script after the printed words day of
A p that rises above the line In September the p starts with a tall stroke that rises well above the other small letters, so it can look like an f or a long s. Read it as p when it also has a loop or bowl on the line.Probate Court of Harrison County, Ohio; Columbus Metropolitan Library, Public domain

Now you read it

A Spencerian word on a dotted line of a license form
This word fills the day blank of the license. Which day is it?
Tips
  • Compare a puzzling capital with other capitals in the same document. The writer used the same shape every time.
  • Ask whether the letter goes below the line: Y and Z usually do and J often does, while I, S and L stay on it. Check with other capitals by the same writer.
  • Remember the look-alikes: Q like 2, E like a backward 3, L like S, I like J, F like T.
  • Printed words on a form tell you what kind of word belongs in each blank, such as a day, a month or a name.
  • Small raised letters or numbers are not stray marks. They mark abbreviations or cents.
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