The Death of Cursive Writing

After reading about the demise of cursive writing in public schools, actress Kirstie Alley quickly took to Twitter and wrote: “I'm HORRIFIED to hear that American children will no longer learn CURSIVE!!!! AMERICAN children would not be able to read the CONSTITUTION.”

She’s correct. Beginning with President Washington’s inauguration in 1789, job applicants (all of whom were men) vied for positions as federal clerks. The most important qualification was good penmanship. Since the typewriter hadn't been invented yet, records and correspondence were written by hand. Men holding these positions were called copyists or clerks. If handwriting wasn’t up to par, applicants would most likely receive a rejection letter like the following one written by Postmaster General Timothy Pickering:

    “As to a clerkship, altho’ your letters are tolerably   
    correct, yet several words are misspelt; and if your 
    composition were perfectly correct, your handwriting is not 
    good enough for a public office. Do not therefore entertain 
    the smallest hope of being introduced to one – I cannot 
    recommend you.”

Penmanship (cursive writing) remained the most in-demand office skill until 1874 when when E. Remington & Sons, the venerable rifle manufacturer, introduced the “Sholes & Glidden Type Writer.” The price was $125. The machine used the QWERTY keyboard, but only typed in capital letters. It was also awkward and temperamental.

After working out most of the quirks the company debuted the Remington No. 2 in 1887 which typed both upper and lower case letters using a shift key. When Patent Office Commissioner Halbert Eleazer Paine learned of the new model, he predicted that it would transform the way business was conducted and ordered several for his offices. Other departments followed and by 1892 the U.S. Government became the largest user of typewriters in the world. More than 2,000 Remingtons were in operation, and another 400 built by other manufacturers, making a grand total of nearly 2,500.

I recommend a terrific article about the importance of continuing to teach cursive writing that was written by a young journalist named Vignesh Ramachandran. He explains that learning cursive writing stimulates brain development and serves as a great equalizer among kids who don’t necessarily have access to digital technology. You can read Vignesh's article by clicking here.

Congress Passes Deficiency Act During Civil War Giving Women Jobs -- at Half the Pay of Men

During the 19th century, federal clerical jobs remained the sole domain of men until 1854 when the U.S. Patent Office began employing female copyists who worked at home and were paid 10 cents per 100 words copied. 

By 1861, necessity became the mother of invention. To underwrite the cost of the Civil War, the government printed additional bank notes which had to be clipped and counted before being released. Old, worn-out notes were checked for counterfeit, and recounted, then destroyed. 

Male clerks earning $1200 a year had been put to work performing the necessary tasks, but the office was falling behind. U.S. Treasurer Francis Spinner, who had enlisted his wife and daughter to cut notes when he was a New York banker, suggested women be hired at half the pay to perform the jobs. He said to Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase that “these young men should have muskets instead of shears placed in their hands and should be sent to the front, and their places filled by women, who would do more and better work, at half the pay that was given to these ‘men milliners.’” Chase hesitated, fearing that employing women as clerks would “demoralize” the department, but consented to tryout one woman. Her first day on the job, this young woman, according to Spinner, “did more work than any one of the clerks. . .[T]his decided the whole matter.” Thereafter, only female clerks were hired to clip currency. 

Spinner’s successful “experiment” precipitated Congress’s enactment of a Deficiency Act authorizing the hiring of women at $600 per year – exactly half the salary given to the lowest-paid male clerk. Women offered a way to solve the continual and pressing demand for more workers without overextending the budget.

Revival of the Typewriter

Here are two well-done (video) stories from NBC News about the comeback of the typewriter: One is about English students and writers who say the typewriter improves the quality of their work. The second is about the return of community typing contests. What's the saying? "Whatever is old is new again."  Click the links below for a treat:

"The Typewriter Is Not Dead"

"Return of the Typewriter"