Skip to Main Content

Historical Studies

Can You Read This?

Form with handwritten information

Teachers' Orders (April 22, 1898)

From the Buzby's Chatsworth General Store Collection, Richard E. Bjork Library Special Collections, Stockton University.

See if you can read it. Then click on the title to go to the item on Digital Collections to verify your understanding. 

Bellevue Avenue Houses, 1907

From the Hammonton History Project, Richard E. Bjork Library Special Collections, Stockton University.

See if you can read it. Then click on the title to go to the item on Digital Collections to verify your understanding. 

Quit claim, December 17, 1782 from Jeremiah Garatson to Ezekiel Camp

From the Rebecca Estell Bourgeois Collection of South Jersey Land Records, Richard E. Bjork Library Special Collections, Stockton University.

See if you can read it. Then click on the title to go to the item on Digital Collections to read our transcription. 

Why Do I Need to Learn Cursive Now?

Many historical documents were handwritten in cursive - the Dead Sea Scrolls, Declaration of Independence, manumissions of enslaved persons, census forms, letters from Civil War soldiers, the original manuscript of Mary Shelley's Frankestein, minutes from the meetings of the National Organization of Women. In order to conduct historical research, you may need to learn how to read handwritten documents. Watch the videos and look at the samples below to learn how to do this. 

Basic Handwriting Tutorials

Techniques for Reading Old Documents (English)