As you conduct your research in manuscripts, you will likely come across a number of handwriting styles and a variety of typesets, some more difficult to decipher than others. Reading sloppy or highly stylistic handwriting can pose challenges for researchers trying to understand a document. Many times, you will be able to solve this problem by spending time familiarizing yourself with an author's records.

The handwriting, writing utensil, or typeset evident in a document can yield illuminating clues about the document's context and creator, including when the document was created.

Consider the following examples of handwriting and typesets that you may come across in your research:

Image (Click to enlarge)	Dates of Use	Characteristics
Copperplate	18th century	Both proper and improper nouns begin with an upper case letter. The lower case "s" can be mistaken for an "f". "ss" can be mistaken for a "p". It was common for writers to shorten words using superscript, or sometimes with no indication of missing letters. The letter "y" was often used in place of "th" in words such as "the". Upper case "S" and "L" look similar as do "J" and "T".
Letterpress manuscripts	18th and 19th centuries	Made by laying damp tissue against the ink side of a manuscript leaf and then pressing the damp tissue face down on a new leaf. Lettering appears thicker than original.
Crosshatching	mid 19th Century	Writing in two directions to maximize space on a page. Technique used due to expensive postage and limited paper supplies
Spencerian	mid-19th Century-1920s	Upper case letters stylized. Lower case letters similar to today's.
Typewritten	Late 19th Century to the present (word processing)	Typewriters were commercially available by the mid 1870s. Electric typewriters were available by the mid 1930s. Word processing became common by the 1980s.
Carbon copy	Prevalent in the early and mid 20th century	An early copying method by which a sheet of carbon paper was placed between pages to transfer writing from one page to the next. Paper often grainy. Writing or typing often faded or blurred.
Mimeograph	Prevalent in the early and mid 20th century	An early mass copying method by which a machine made copies by pressing ink through a stencil. Characterized by a purple hue. Ink is often smeared.

Writing Utensils

Pencil	Commonplace by the late 18th century
Fountain pen	Commercially available by the 1880s
Ball Point	1940s to the present
Felt tip pen	1950s to the present

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