Posted on 04/09/2026 6:31:52 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The Newberry Library in Chicago is scouting transcribers to demystify its handwritten collection.
As Dan Kelly wrote in yesterday’s Chicago, the archive’s hunt for “living Rosetta stones” first kicked off in 2013, when the Newberry launched a campaign to transcribe all its Civil War letters in time for the sesquicentennial. This was such a success that the project has since gained momentum, expanding into all corners of the collection’s vast archive.
Volunteer crowdsourcing efforts began in earnest during the pandemic. Because, as Alison Hinderliter, the Newberry’s curator of modern manuscripts and archives has put it, “people were looking for something meaningful to do.”
But as digitization demand stays up, the trusty transcriber herself has become harder to source. And this seems a harbinger, given that cursive has been cut from the Common Core.
In 2022, historian Drew Gilpin Faust rang the bell for the dying art of handwriting, cautioning NPR that “we will become reliant on a small group of trained translators and experts” to keep the historical record.
All archives predating the printing press, Faust said, “including the documents and papers of our own families,” are in danger of going the way of the dodo bird if there are no people around who can read them. Which is why projects like the Newberry’s—and this similar call last year, from the National Archives—are more important than ever.
So what’s in the Newberry that’s so in need of saving? It’s honestly hard to say where to begin. The Chicago behemoth holds documents that date back to the 17th century.
Others hold the key to early modernism. There’s correspondence to and from Chicago literary luminaries like Nelson Algren, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jack Conroy, and Sherwood Anderson.
Kelly noted discrepancies after a visit to the stacks. “Algren’s correspondences are at least semi-legible,” he said. “The same can’t be said for Sherwood Anderson’s.”
But you be the judge. (Posted below)
There’s also a trove of city-specific history. Like irreplaceable firsthand accounts of the Great Chicago Fire, and diary entries from attendees of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.
But my personal favorite? A 17th century book of magic spells.
The Newberry currently has 146 registered transcriber volunteers, but thousands of others have come and gone over the last decade. If you’re willing to brush up on those loopy Qs, you too can join the bold at Newberry Transcribe.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
The article mentions that the National Archives have a team that does this, too.
Cursive then and cursive now is probably why (a good reason why) it is no longer taught.
There are rules in writing it, but nobody followed them.
I was absolutely flabbergasted when I was hiring ‘young people’ as Stockers at my Garden Center.
NONE of them had an actual ‘signature!’ All the paperwork they ‘signed’ for me (Application, W-4, etc.) was in block print.
Reading cursive still will not decipher that. I can only make put a few words.
I went to Catholic school n the 50’s and 60’s. Penmanship was stressed. I used to have pretty good penmanship...but not now. I can understand some of what I see but certainly not all of it.
Signing my name is something I can still do!
The examples look like poorly executed Spencerian, which isn’t that difficult for modern people. I imagine older examples can be much harder to decipher.
Cursive is faster than printing. It helps retention. It develops fine motor skills.
Typing is faster than cursive. No need for retention when everything is on the internet. No need for fine motor skills when there’s a robot for everything.
Maybe Earth is a giant soap opera for aliens across the universe. Desperate for content, they gave us the internet so they know everything we do, 24/7. Maybe they have gambling on our activities, too.
I believe there is a computer program that can read and convert to print such writings. I think there have been some volumes so transcribed at the Vatican a few years back.
“English was in fact English but some words are no longer in common usage.”
I had to LOL. At church choir practice yesterday some guy said, “I’ve been singing this hymn for 50 years and have no idea what ‘fain’ means”.
The love side of my love/hate relationship with Gemini AI has recently produced a 99+% accurate transcription of poor cursive. With decades of puzzling out Civil War correspondence, I would put this handwriting sample in the worst 15% or so.
Gemini AI is also very good at transcribing a blurry pic of a letter (I bumped my cell phone camera stand). I have also used it successfully on a completely faded page from a press letterbook - even switching the image to negative (an old microfilm trick) only revealed faint swirls - 0% legibility. AI read it all - who knows about accuracy, but the transcription made perfect sense in the context I found it.
So, this article is pointless; the free solution is here.
AI has no imagination.
Clapping madly.
I don’t like booze in egg nog, but I’m saving the Cherry Bounce; that sounds great.
Can't read his cursive, either.
They should hire retired English teachers. We can read anything.
“Historian Drew Gilpin Faust” is a former president of Harvard!
I used to be able to write cursive, until my cursive degenerated Into an unreadable scrawl, and I reverted to print writing.
Perhaps I can still read cursive. ???
I was able to read the back of the card okay. It was a little harder reading the diary entry, especially without seeing the whole book from the beginning in person, but they said something about a house full of people, somebody, maybe Paul went off to Johnson City to see about some ______ matter and to get a typewriter fixed _____. A name beginning with a B and ending in an L, Roger, Julius, YK and me. E (?) under too much tension, but I do not ______ to believe it. She is very beautiful these days. No work.
Back in the late 40s, kindergartners were not expected to learn to read, but to learn their ABCs, colors, etc. as well as how to follow instructions and get along with others in a large group.
In first grade, we learned to write cursive and read printing at the same time. Perhaps it is something like learning more than one language at the same time in a home where, for example, mom speaks English and grandma speaks Italian I was never actually given any instruction in printing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.