Philology Resources

          

17^th and 18^th Century Paleography

British:

Paleography: reading old handwriting 1500-1800. A practical online tutorial.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/

Tutorial by the National Archives of Great Britain. Good examples and a handy “Quick reference guide” to such matters as calendars and money.

English Handwriting 1500-1700: an online course

http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/index.html

An outstanding site, particularly strong in examples with accompanying transcriptions and notes.

Online Tuition in the Paleography of Scottish Documents, 1500-1750

http://www.scottishhandwriting.com

Note that this site covers down to 1750.

Introduction to English Paleography

http://paleo.anglo-norman.org/palindex.html

Created by Dave Postles of the West Sussex Record Council.

French:

French paleography to 1789:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/eric-camille.voirin/paleo/

Archive of an extensive course in French Early Modern handwriting. In French. Excellent examples and accompanying transcriptions.

German:

Read Suetterlin/read blackletter http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Englisch/Sutterlin.htm
Wonderful site for Suetterlin and earlier German scripts generally.

 

 

Alphabetisierung und Schriftkultur in die Frühen Neuzeit

http://gwdu05.gwdg.de/~nwinnig/

Not really a paleography website, but contains scores of examples of German signatures ca. 1800 accompanied by transcription. Great practice.

Italian:

Exercises in Latin Paleography:

http://www.unigre.it/pubblicazioni/lasala/WEB/HOME_E.HTM

(mostly earlier Latin hands but a few examples of later documents) 

Spanish and Latin American:

Curso de paleografía latino-hispano-americana

http://members.tripod.com/vhaj/INDEX.htm

Much of this is medieval, but try the examples in the “Neografia” section.

Miscellaneous:

The English Calendar

http://www.albion.edu/english/calendar/

Does ecclesiastical calendar, regnal years in England; also converts Old Style to New Style and does days of the week. Particularly useful for those “Tuesday, February 10” dates on familiar letters.

The Perpetual Calendar: A Helpful Tool for Postal Historians

http://www.norbyhus.dk/calendar.html

Toke Norby’s site. Not just for postal historians—also good for the French Republican calendar. If you ever have to decode “19 Frimaire, an.8” you will be grateful to him.

Early Modern Resources

http://www.earlymodernweb.org.uk/emr/

Maintained by Sharon Howard; fairly recent site, covers “roughly 1500-1800.” Good links to eprint articles, online resources, etc.

Jack Lynch’s Eighteenth-Century Chronology

http://newark.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Chron/index.html

The long eighteenth, year by year. Useful, but tends to be fuller for post1750.

Romantic Chronology

http://english.ucsb.edu:591/rchrono/

an be searched by year or topic. Has an expansive enough view of “Romantic” to be quite useful for the eighteenth century as well.

The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835

http://www.theclergydatabase.org.uk/

In progress. Can be amazingly useful.

La Crosse Public Library History (Chronology) resources:

http://www.lacrosselibrary.org/libchoice/historicalchronology.htm

A list of timelines on the Web. Very good selection

 

A Few Resources on American Handwriting:

There are a multitude of sites devoted to American handwriting, but relatively few good ones.

How to Read 18^th Century British-American Handwriting

http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/writing.html

This is the handwriting “tips” portion of a much larger site devoted to the diary of Martha Ballard, created by the Film Study Center, Harvard. Do explore; there are digital images and transcriptions, as well as other information.

Indian Converts Collection Study Guide to Colonial American Handwriting

http://cdm.reed.edu/cdm4/indianconverts/studyguides/colonial_american_handwriting/cultural_significance.php#culturalhistory

A good basic site for 17^th and 18^th century hands. Be sure to try the Handwriting Game.

The “Rare Books” section of the IAMPETH website:

http://www.iampeth.com/books.php

A trove of information on 19^th and early 20^th century American hands. IAMPETH is the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting, and the whole site is well worth exploring.

 

 

Old handwriting

http://amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/oldhand.html

A very basic site for American genealogists, but has links to some useful handlists of name abbreviations and the like.