The Libraries Presents an Online Exhibit on Handwritten History
April 18, 2022
Explore 鈥,鈥 the newest digital exhibit from 91视频 Libraries. The information and materials were curated by Judinya Thwaites-Brevik, a second-year sociology major in the Honors Tutorial College.
鈥淭he Decline of Cursive鈥 includes a brief history of cursive and discussions of why cursive stopped being taught in schools, the importance of learning cursive, and why cursive should continue to be taught to future generations.
Thwaites-Brevik created the exhibit while working in the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collection as part of the OhioLINK Luminaries internship program, hosted by University Libraries, which seeks to increase diversity in librarianship. Student interns in the program learn about many aspects of libraries by working in several different departments over the course of three semesters.
As Thwaites-Brevik started exploring Digital Archives from home, she began to realize how many older documents and manuscripts were handwritten in cursive.
鈥淟ikewise,鈥 she said, 鈥淚 realized how much of history will be lost as future generations will not be able to read cursive and therefore not able to access old documents.鈥
Among other materials, the exhibit features items from the , the E.W. Scripps Papers and the Civil War Correspondence Collection. Many of the exhibit materials include different samples of cursive handwriting documents from both notable and less well-known parts of OHIO鈥檚 history.
Thwaites-Brevik also highlights the voices of some underrepresented people of color in the exhibit, asking, 鈥淲hat will happen to their stories (and what will happen to history in general) if future generations cannot read the documents left behind?鈥
As she worked remotely, Thwaites-Brevik pulled her materials from the Libraries鈥 Digital Archives and gained new skills to build the exhibit.
鈥淸Thwaites-Brevik] selected all the items for inclusion, learned Adobe Spark, designed the exhibit, and wrote all of the content,鈥 said Miriam Intrator, special collections librarian. 鈥淚t was an impressive example of student initiative, curiosity, research and reflective inquiry.鈥
Students or faculty who are interested in history, sociology, English and linguistics will likely find the exhibit particularly interesting, but 鈥淭he Decline of Cursive鈥 is open and accessible to all. There is even a link for those who want to attempt transcribing an item written in cursive themselves!
鈥淚 hope people across 91视频 and our communities will explore the exhibit and will be motivated by Nya鈥檚 challenge to consider learning cursive, if they don鈥檛 already know it, to ensure that they can read, study, and interpret original primary source material for themselves,鈥 Intrator said.
. For questions about the exhibit, contact Miriam Intrator.