Archives Outside

Useful Tips for Reading Handwritten Documents

Posted on July 10, 2009 by Fiona Sullivan

With acknowledgements to Gail Davis, Lindsay Allen, Richard Gore, Janette Pelosi, Bob Meade & Julie Hallett.

In these days of Web 2.0 and the use of high tech tools and databases which can answer research queries in an instant, the challenge presented by reading and interpreting handwritten archival documents often comes as a surprise to first time researchers.  In fact interpreting old handwriting can be a laborious and time consuming task for even the most experienced.

Sometimes this is because the handwriting is illegible which can appear in documents of any time period! However, it can also be because of the writing styles and conventions used in older records, such as those from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which are so different from those used today.

Practical Tips

I consulted the brains trust at State Records for some of their top hints for interpreting handwritten documents based on the most frequently asked questions over the years. This is what we came up with.

• Use a magnifying glass.
• Spend time comparing the words and letters in a document to those around them.
• Compare letters or combinations of letters with those in a known word.
• A letter may be written differently depending on its position in the word. In the example given the letter ‘r’ in ‘brown’ is written differently to the letter ‘r’ at the end of ‘October’ and is different again in ‘ruddy’.
• Check the position, start, middle or end of a word and look for combinations which may be one or more letters. For example ‘incorrigible’ has ‘in’ at the start but elsewhere these letters might have been confused with ‘m’. Often ‘n’ and ‘u’ look similar, as do ‘h’ and ‘k’.
• Capital letters have different forms to non-capital letters.
• Compare similar types of documents, if possible those written by the same person as some aspects of style can be idiosyncratic to an individual.
• Often the more time you spend reading a document the clearer it will become, sometimes it’s a good idea to come back to it after a break.
• Show the document to someone else without telling them what you think it says.
• Use common sense, more often than not the simple explanation is the correct one.
• Look out for place names that may have changed over time, just because it isn’t in a street directory today doesn’t mean your interpretation is wrong.  It may be necessary to consult geographical dictionaries and old place name guides. If you are looking for a place in New South Wales the Geographical Names Register is a handy online resource.
• Ditto is  a term that means “the same as stated above or as before”. It is often expressed with two lines (”), which means that the word, figure or phrase above is to be repeated.
• Be aware of abbreviations (sometimes words that have been abbreviated later can be found written in full together with the abbreviation at the beginning of a document).
• Given names and Family names are commonly abbreviated in documents, such as Chas for Charles or Thos for Thomas.
• Consult expert sources on a particular type of record e.g. State Records Convict Guide has a Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations and dictionaries on Law, Medicine and Finance are always useful.
• If you can track down someone who has knowledge of the subject matter and arcane abbreviations it can help to flick them a scan of the document. Amateur historians are usually willing to help.
• Once you have worked out what two or three words are which may be key to solving the puzzle, putting those two or three words into Google search can yield a something about the subject matter or something about the person concerned which help to decipher other relevant details. If you know what words to look for, it makes it easier to recognise them in the old script.
• Look out for Latin words and phrases as these are commonly used.
• Where there is a double “ss” in a word this will often appear as “fs” in cursive handwriting in older documents, this is known as the leading S.
• When money is being recorded the columns may not be headed with the symbols for pounds, shillings and pence (i.e. there may be unheaded columns of numbers).
• Where there is cross writing in a document, a second layer of writing written at a 90 degree angle to the text, turn the letter so that the writing you are trying to read is at the top of the page.
• In a blank piece of paper cut a slit or window the length and width of one line of text. Scroll it down over the text line by line. this is particularly useful to decipher cross writing. This eliminates most of the confusing background to the text under examination.

In some cases, however, it may be necessary to learn more about older writing, spelling and grammatical conventions to ensure handwriting is interpreted correctly. Fortunately there are a number of handy tools on the web that can give you a crash course.

Useful Tools

A brief rundown of some of the common tips and tricks for deciphering old handwriting can be found in the following article on “Old Handwriting in Geneaology Research” by Sabina J Murray.

The National Archives in the United Kingdom has a wonderful practical online tutorial on translating english documents written between 1500-1800. Then when you’ve finished you can test your new found expertise in the ducking stool game.

If you are interested in pursuing things a bit further and practising your transcription skills on some well known verses and correspondence the Cambridge English Renaissance Electronic Service (CERES) presents a more in depth online course on English Handwriting 1500-1700.

(N.B. While these tools are based on an earlier time period than that covered by most Australian archival collections, many of the lessons learnt can be carried forward.)

If you have some more tips please let me know and I’ll update the list.

Anyone brave enough to post their ducking stool score? I drowned after 4 words!

Also of interest:

• Quick poll: do your readers use gloves when accessing archives
• Conservation Tip No. 3: Removing blood from paper documents
• August 2009: Link roundup post