101 Genealogy » Palaeography

What is Palaeography?

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:19:28 +0000

Palaeography (British) or paleography (American) is the study of ancient handwriting. This discipline tackles two main difficulties.

First, how to decipher individual characters, because alphabets evolve constantly. Second, how to interpret the many abbreviations that scribes often used, partly to save space and also to speed up the writing process.

Deciphering ancient documents is a useful skill for a genealogist because knowledge about individual letter-forms, ligatures, punctuation, and abbreviations, enables the palaeographer to read the text as the scribe intended it to be read.

Reading old handwriting 1500 – 1800 (online tutorial)

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:18:00 +0000

The National Archives offer a free online tutorial about reading old handwriting, dating from 1500 to 1800, and written in English.

Many old documents can look illegible to the modern reader but if you work through this tutorial you should quickly get the hang of it.

For more information see:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/

Palaeography – Scottish documents

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:17:34 +0000

The Scottish Handwriting website offers online tuition to historians, genealogists, and other researchers who want to understand historical documents written in Scotland in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

As well as a number of free online tutorials there’s also a coaching manual which you can use for free. There are plenty of resources on offer so it’s well worth a visit.

For more information see:
http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/

English Handwriting 1500 – 1700

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:17:01 +0000

Here’s an awful messy-looking site from Cambridge University. However it does offer a free online course to help you decipher old English handwriting.

Once you get away from the home page it starts to look very good indeed. Have a look!

For more information see:
http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/

Practical Palaeography for Family Historians (short course)

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:16:21 +0000

Hertford Regional College offers short courses in palaeography. Learn to read old 18th and 19th century documents such as pre-1858 wills. This is one of the most widely used sources of information for family historians.

The course consists of a Saturday morning lecture and a practical element where everyone is given a copy of a will to decipher.

For more information see:
Hertford Regional College website: Practical Palaeography for Family Historians

Latin and Palaeography Summer School (Keele)

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:13:21 +0000

This week-long, annual summer school, run by the School of Humanities at the University of Keele, provides expert tuition in small groups for amateur and professional historians (both local and national), genealogists, archive students, and postgraduate researchers who wish to acquire or improve their skills in reading and transcribing medieval and early modern documents from English archives.

It attracts some 60 to 70 students each year from all parts of the UK, and also from North America and elsewhere.

For more information see:
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/hi/adults/latin.htm

Reading Old Documents (one-day course)

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:12:20 +0000

The Institute of Genealogical and Heraldic Studies (IGHS) runs a one-day course in reading old documents.

Many people shy away from research prior to 1750 due to an inability to read and interpret the documentation. This day seminar is designed to introduce the student to the documents and handwriting encountered in local and family history research. Practical examples will illustrate the methodology of “learning to read” old documents.

For more information see:
http://www.ihgs.ac.uk/courses/day_and_residential_08_reading_old_documents.php