Friday, April 10, 2009

Palaeography

As those who follow me on Twitter know, I post a website link having to do with social history each day. Today, I thought I would share what I posted on Twitter and expound on it.

As genealogists, it is so important to be able to read handwriting from different eras and by different people. The UK National Archives has a comprehensive tutorial on Palaeography at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/default.htm.

What I like about this site is that it doesn't just give you the alphabet and explain the different ways letters are written, though that is important. But it explains some techniques about reading, transcribing, phrases and abbreviations. They provide sample documents, explain the nature of the document, tips for transcribing the document and an interactive tutorial. This way you don't just learn about reading old handwriting but you actually practice it with some guidance.

2 comments:

Greta Koehl said...

That's an awesome link; thanks for posting it.

Familytreeservice said...

Brilliant, thanks very much. Some documents are awful to read and this should really help.