Peirce’s Penmanship Past on Display at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Peirce’s Penmanship Past on Display at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Last year, the Peirce College Library began a conversation with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) about the Penmanship Collection in our archives. Based on this discussion, a number of staff members from HSP visitedPeirce to see the materials. They were impressed with the depth of the collection and the story it tells about penmanship education in nineteenth-century Philadelphia.
When HSP began to assemble an exhibit on the history of penmanship and penmanship education, Tara O’Brian, the Director of Conservation and Preservation, invited us to be a part of the display. The exhibit, “Pen to Paper” opened earlier this month and features a few notable items on loan from the Peirce Archives.
When Peirce students enrolled in the penmanship program in the 1880s, they were asked to submit a sample of their handwriting in the form of a letter to Thomas May Peirce. At the end of the program they would write the same letter, showing how the methods taught by the Peirce faculty improved their penmanship skills.
A few of these student samples are included in the Historical Society’s exhibit. The display also contains a letter written by Thomas May Peirce, showing his own penmanship skills. Our founder’s letter is in good company, displayed next to a letterwritten by Michelangelo to Pope Leo X. Another interesting non-Peirce piece in the collection is an 1865 lithographof Abraham Lincoln appearing through the text of the Emancipation Proclamation. The exhibit captures the importance of skilled penmanship in the pre-typewritten world through the lens of Pennsylvania people and institutions.
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| Thomas May Peirce’s Example of Perfect Penmanship |
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| Letter from Michelangelo to Pope Leo X |
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| 1865 lithograph of Abraham Lincoln appearing through the text of the Emancipation Proclamation |
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