Deciphering old handwritten documents can feel like trying to decode a secret language. The swirls and loops of cursive writing can be a challenge even for seasoned transcribers. However, with practice and the right strategies, you can unlock the stories hidden within these historical manuscripts.

Handwriting is a unique form of expression that has evolved over centuries. It reflects the personal style, habits, and idiosyncrasies of the writer. In historical documents, you’ll encounter variations in letter forms, spellings, and even punctuation. Understanding the context of the time period can provide valuable insights when deciphering cursive text.

To help learn about the art of deciphering cursive handwriting within archival records and other materials we have put together a video, fact sheet and this blog post to cover some tips for deciphering handwritten documents, to share some things to look out for and provide some quick tips to keep you on track.

Step One: start somewhere

Pick somewhere to start. It doesn’t have to be the first page, or even the second. Find somewhere you’re comfortable starting and try and read the page all the way through. Write down the words and letters you recognise, leave a dash for anything you don’t recognise and start building slowly from there.

Compare and match unknown letters, characters, or doubtful words in the same document. Often you can see a pattern in how the author joined letters or wrote specific letters and words.

It’s also important to transcribe the document exactly as it’s written, don’t correct typos, spelling or grammar. For any additional notes or comments on the page, like text in the margins, use square brackets with a brief description of where the text appears on the page, followed by the transcription.

Step two: look for clues

Start with a common word in the document you can read, like the word ‘the’. Also you might want to look at tables or lists for dates or the months of the year. Understanding how the author wrote these words and letters in both lower case and capital will help you decipher other words.

You might need to get creative when trying to transcribe signatures. Check if that person is mentioned on another page, or you can look for clues on websites like Trove or Wikipedia to find the names and titles of people. Sometimes you can work out the name of the person if you have their title – you can search for who held that position at that time. 

Names also were abbreviated quite often. Name abbreviations usually consist of the first three or four letters of the name and then the last letter, written smaller and raised.

Step three: Try and work it out

You can try working backwards for difficult words by looking at each letter individually in reverse. It will force your brain to see the characters differently, instead of trying to read everything together like a sentence. 

Also try reading the document out loud.  Some of these words, especially names and places, often are misspelled. Sounding out misspelled words will help you hear what the original author might have meant.

By switching between recognising characters in reverse, and then sounding out words, you can start to piece together some of the difficult words. 

Things to look out for

Once you get started, there are a few things to remember that can help you get back on track.

Common phrases

As you start to read more handwritten documents, you’ll become more familiar with common phrases, and how they were abbreviated. In the Colonial Secretary correspondence you will see Government officials using phrases such as:

• I do myself the honor to request …
• Sheweth – used in formal letters and means ‘show’
• I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient servant …
• To his excellency [Sir George Ferguson Bowen; Governor] of H. M. Colony of Queensland, etc, etc,
  

The long ‘S’

The long ‘s’ looks somewhat like a lowercase “f” without the horizontal crossbar. It was used at the beginning and in the middle of words, while the modern-style “s” (short ‘s’) was used at the end of words. This usage was influenced by the handwriting conventions found in Latin writing.

As a result, words that contain the letter “s” in the middle or at the beginning could appear with the long ‘s’, creating a visual similarity to the letter “f.” For example, the word “sin” might be written as “ſin,” and “son” might be written as “ſon.”

Typos

You will come across misspelled words and other typos in handwritten documents. This may be due to simple human error or may be due to the fact that English has evolved over time in response to linguistic shifts and societal changes. Also, depending on the education, region and dialect of the author, words may look different or be spelt phonetically. For example, in the except below, the author uses a mixture of German words and phonetic spelling.

Abbreviations

Common abbreviations of words and names are written with raised or lowered letters. The first three or four letters of the word often will be written, with the final letter in the word written in superscript at the end.

Often punctuation also was used to let the reader know about an abbreviation, like

a colon (:), or two dots might denote an abbreviated word, or

a dash (-) or equal sign (=) can either indicate the end of a line or an abbreviation.

There are several other common abbreviations you will encounter,

“Ult” – is an abbreviation for ‘ultimo’, an Italian and Spanish word, often used in letters to refer to the previous month to the date of the letter.

“Inst.” – an abbreviation for ‘instant’, often used in dates, to refer to the month the letter is dated

The names of the longer months are often shortened, which is still common today, but how these months were written might be different to what we expect in contemporary writing.

Haphazard punctuation

Punctuation rules and conventions have evolved over time and especially in handwritten documents and their use can appear haphazard. Some sentences will clearly end in a full stop, while others do not.

Because writing by hand is time consuming, abbreviations often are denoted with various forms of punctuation.

It’s important when transcribing to write the sentence exactly how it’s written, with or without punctuation, to maintain the integrity of the original record.

Omissions and ligatures         

Space was very important, especially in early handwritten documents written at a time when materials might be more difficult to access. Depending on the document, you might notice some space-saving techniques like omitting letters or using ligatures, which is when two letters are blended together. A word with “ae” in it, like “sundae”, might be written “sundæ” or the word “canoe” might be written “canœ”.

Depending on the author of the document, sometimes they’ll choose to omit certain common letters after words, usually “m’” or “n” or “es”, “is” or “ys”. 

In the example below, the author has used a ligature by blending the “E” and “t” while writing a common phrase.

Want to try your hand at transcribing?

We have an ongoing volunteer project transcribing records on the platform FromthePage.

FromthePage offers a collaborative space for enthusiasts and experts alike to work together in deciphering handwritten records. By contributing to this initiative, you’re not only preserving history but also making it accessible to a wider audience.

Why not test out your newly developed skills and try your hand at transcribing records?

Deciphering handwritten documents is a skill that improves with practice and persistence. Embrace the process, and don’t be afraid to seek help or share your progress. Remember, every transcription brings us one step closer to preserving our shared history. Happy transcribing!

Further resources:

• Find out more about Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence (1822-1860) held at State Library of Queensland (SLQ).
• Find and read digitised copies of the Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence (1859-1903) at Queensland State Archives.
• Read a guide on FromThePage, How do I read old handwriting?
• Find more helpful tips, videos and a quiz about deciphering handwriting from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
• Research Palaeography through The National Archives, specifically handwriting found in documents from 1500-1800.

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