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Pen to Paper: Handwriting in the Digital Age
Modern technology has dramatically altered the way we communicate. Email, texting, and social media have become for many the dominant mediums for exchanging information. As these technologies continue to develop, the ways in which we interact with and react to one another change as well.
However, despite the increased use of computers for writing, the skill of handwriting remains important in education, employment and in everyday life - from early childhood through our adult lives.
The art and craft of handwriting has a diverse history itself, from its cuneiform origins 5,000 years ago to the flowing script of modern calligraphers. The history of handwriting may also be read as the history of civilization. It is to pre-history that events occurring before the advent of writing are relegated.
As a special collections library and archive with 21 million manuscripts, HSP will be hosting Pen to Paper, a series of programs exploring the importance of handwriting in the past and its utility in the present.
The series is free for HSP members, $15 per program for non-members. Purchase the entire series and the third program is free.
Event Information:
Timothy Matlack, Scribe of the Declaration of Independence
Wednesday, January 14
6 - 7:00 p.m.
At the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
A Philadelphia brewer penned the most famous document in American history. As an assistant Secretary to Congress, Timothy Matlack engrossed the Declaration of Independence. But how was it that a beer-bottler, infamous for cockfighting, once confined to debtor’s prison, was given this responsibility?
Recently Timothy Matlack has been making a come back: he figured in the movie National Treasure; his handwriting inspired the font American Scribe; his portrait hangs in the new American Wing of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; and a biography was recently published. Author Chris Coelho discuss Matlack's life, the first presentation of its kind in the Philadelphia area in over 100 years.
Act 48/CEU credits are available.
This program is part of the Pen to Paper program series. Purchase the entire series and the third program is free.
Handwriting: Why We Should Care
Wednesday, January 21
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
At the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Handwriting instruction is under attack as irrelevant within today’s digital communication environment. Dr. Robert J. Mahar will provide a brief review of the history and present status of handwriting, revealing the central role that cursive handwriting has played in society.
During the program, participants will have an opportunity to view the Pen to Paper document displays of historic and current writing manuals, fancy script, such as in Pennsylvania-German fraktur, and oak gall ink production, and then get to try their hand at transcription and quill writing.
Dr. Mahar is Emeritus Profession in the College of Education at Temple University.
Act 48/CEU credits are available.
This program is part of the Pen to Paper program series. Purchase the entire series and the third program is free.
“The Winter of the Soul”:
Calligraphy and Religious Texts in German Pennsylvania
Wednesday, February 4
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
At the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
For many of Pennsylvania’s early German-speaking settlers, handwriting was more than a communication tool. It was also a component of religious devotion. Highlighting objects in the HSP collection, this presentation by Doctoral student Alexander Lawrence Ames explores the complex relationship between Pennsylvania German spiritualism and the visual presentation of devotional texts.
Speaker’s Bio: Alexander Lawrence Ames is a graduate of the Winterthur Program of Material Culture at the University of Delaware and Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library, where he specialized in Pennsylvania German Frakturschrift calligraphy and manuscript illumination practices. Mr. Ames is pursuing a PhD in History of American Civilization at the University of Delaware.
Act 48/CEU credits are available.
This program is part of the Pen to Paper program series. Purchase the entire series and the third program is free.