This week I had a chance to review two items that were about the
same topic and created by the same author. Reading Early American Handwriting
is the name of a book by Kip Sperry that was originally published in 1998. The
book is now in its third printing, updated as of 2001. Reading Early American
Handwriting is also the title of a new videotape by the same Kip Sperry.
While produced by two different companies, the two products work together well
as complementary products.
Kip Sperry is an associate professor of family history at Brigham
Young University in Provo, Utah. He is also an accomplished genealogy lecturer
and author. I have reviewed a number of his books in the past few years and
am always impressed by his grasp of the topics and his method of delivering
information in a manner that is easy to absorb. I wasn’t disappointed with
the two new products Kip Sperry created. The study of old handwriting is called
paleography; that sounds like a rather dry topic to learn, but Kip Sperry succeeds
in making it rather enjoyable.
Both the book and the videotape start with a bit of a history
lesson. Kip tells about quill pens and homemade inks. Remember that your 17th
or 18th century ancestor could not buy ink at a store; he or she
probably had to make the ink at home. Quality varied, depending upon the materials
available and the skill of the ink maker. Also, paper was not readily available
and was often expensive, when found. Our ancestors often abbreviated words and
sentences extensively, in order to pack as much information as possible onto
a small piece of expensive paper.
Next Kip goes into a step-by-step explanation of each of the letters
in the alphabet. He describes the manner in which letters were written hundreds
of years ago, stressing the point that handwriting was not as standardized as
it is today. He shows many examples of handwriting that illustrates his main
points.
Did you know that the letters I and J were interchangeable four
hundred years ago? So were the letters U and V, as Kip explains. In fact, W
literally means "double U" yet it looks like a double-V to modern
eyes. That is because a U in olden days was written like a modern day V. Kip
also points out how the letter R is often written upside-down in old handwriting,
and a double S often had the first S written as an F, such as "witnefsed"
in place of "witnessed."
Kip Sperry next moves into old letters and documents. On the videotape,
he shows paragraphs from a number of old documents and dissects them at the
level of detail necessary, both by decoding individual characters as well as
by decoding the context in which they appear. His presentation methods are different
in the book, although the end result is quite similar: he describes the method
of decoding handwriting that may first appear to be unintelligible.
Kip Sperry also explains double-dating; such as 6 March 1690/1.
After explaining how the calendar change was made in 1752 in the American colonies,
Kip illustrates the formats one might encounter and shows how to interpret them.
The book version contains an appendix that lists many Web sites
and CD-ROM disks that are useful for decoding old genealogy records. The videotape
version also shows examples from many of the Internet web sites although it
doesn’t present a long list of Web addresses. However, it does show how
to find online images of many old documents. (By the way, is your local society
scanning old documents and placing them online?)
So which is better: the book or the videotape? I must admit that
I find this to be a difficult question. The book has many, many pages of handwriting
examples that are not found on the videotape. It also has two appendices and
a bibliography that are not on the video version. However, the video seems to
be better at explaining some topics as Kip leads the viewer step-by-step throughout
his presentation. He also uses high-tech highlighting techniques on the screen
to emphasize specific parts of many documents, a technique not available on
the printed page.
I am reminded of the phrase, "You’ve read the book,
now see the movie!" In fact, I found that the book and the videotape were
both very useful tutorials for any genealogist.
Kip Sperry is obviously an expert at reading early American handwriting.
Both in the book and on the videotape, he succeeds in transferring much of his
knowledge to the reader or viewer. Both the book and the videotape are excellent
products. You may want to buy one or the other. Even better, buy one or both
for your local genealogy society’s library.
Reading Early American Handwriting in book form is produced
by Genealogical Publishing Company and sells for $29.99 (U.S. funds). Any bookstore
can order it for you if you specify ISBN 080630846X.
The Reading Early American Handwriting videotape is produced
by 123genealogy.com, a division of The Studio. You can order it for $14.95.
The above prices do not reflect tax or shipping charges.
Editor's Note: Kip Sperry writes a weekly column, all of which are archived and can be viewed at Ancestry.com's Kips Tips.
Dick Eastman Online
