Posted on 11/24/2024 5:58:45 AM PST by texanyankee
Both of my parents graduated from 'Business College' in the late 1930s and were working as clerk/typists in civil service & the freight lines.
They met & began dating before the outbreak of WW2.
My Dad ended up joining the Coast Guard & served in the Pacific theatre. While his ship was undergoing repairs from the campaign at Amchitka, he eventually made it back to Texas & my folks got married in July of 1943 before returning to his refitted attack transport and resuming the campaign in the Pacific.
During his tour of duty between 1942 and 1944 they exchange hundreds of letters. I was fortunate to have rescued & scanned 650 of their letters to share with my siblings & my nieces & nephews.
In many instances both my parents would include in their letters paragraphs that were written in shorthand. In one instance an entire page was in shorthand. I have no idea how to decipher what they wrote. I wondered how the shorthand script managed to slip thru the censors but then I realized that shorthand was well known & used at that time.
Any suggestions on translating shorthand would be appreciated!
have you tried any of the online shorthand translators? Just lookup “shorthand translation”.
I will definitely check out Staples and any other publishing service that will offer something within a reasonable price.
thanks for the suggestion.
“”Find older 70-90 yo woman who used it””
Yes, there are still a few of us left who might remember how to read it.
I’m not sure I’d want to translate such letters; they probably contain intimate thoughts that most kids, no matter how old, really don’t want to hear about their parents. Cute note: My husband has some of his dad’s letters he wrote to his mom during WWII. In one of them, his dad wrote, “I can’t wait to get home and do the dishes with you”, Obviously code for sex.
“After my mom passed away I found a shoebox full of love letters from my dad. I transcribed them and had it bound in a book, copies which I gave to my siblings and the grandkids. They loved it.”
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Did the same with a box of letters Dad wrote to his mom.
Scanned, made a book, sent out to siblings as soft-copy (PDF).
Well-received.
LOTS of book recommendations here, let me point you to a “book price aggregator” site. Addall.com. It searches a bunch of bookstores around the US, and presents you a list of who has it, and how much.
16 Replies. That was my first thought. I’d be very surprised if one cannot scan a shorthand letter and have it translated to English.
I saw another poster had suggested that same book, but not until after I posted
.
Uh, you may not want to know what is in those paragraphs.
I know I wouldn’t want my kids to read all of the content of my letters home. ;)
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1544749069058377
Supposedly this will teach you how to use a translator.
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