The Libraries Presents an Online Exhibit on Handwritten History

Explore “The Decline of Cursive and the Subsequent Inaccessibility of History,” the newest digital exhibit from Ohio University Libraries. The information and materials were curated by Judinya Thwaites-Brevik, a second-year sociology major in the Honors Tutorial College. 

“The Decline of Cursive” 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. 

“Likewise,” she said, “I 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.” 

Among other materials, the exhibit features items from the Margaret Boyd Diary, 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’s history.

Thwaites-Brevik also highlights the voices of some underrepresented people of color in the exhibit, asking, “What will happen to their stories (and what will happen to history in general) if future generations cannot read the documents left behind?”

As she worked remotely, Thwaites-Brevik pulled her materials from the Libraries’ Digital Archives and gained new skills to build the exhibit. 

“[Thwaites-Brevik] selected all the items for inclusion, learned Adobe Spark, designed the exhibit, and wrote all of the content,” said Miriam Intrator, special collections librarian. “It was an impressive example of student initiative, curiosity, research and reflective inquiry.” 

Students or faculty who are interested in history, sociology, English and linguistics will likely find the exhibit particularly interesting, but “The Decline of Cursive” is open and accessible to all. There is even a link for those who want to attempt transcribing an item written in cursive themselves!

“I hope people across Ohio University and our communities will explore the exhibit and will be motivated by Nya’s challenge to consider learning cursive, if they don’t already know it, to ensure that they can read, study, and interpret original primary source material for themselves,” Intrator said. 

Explore “The Decline of Cursive and the Subsequent Inaccessibility of History” here. For questions about the exhibit, contact Miriam Intrator.