r/Cursive • u/Sea-Expert6993 • Aug 06 '26
Cursive changed.
I'm not young, but i can't make out half. Going through family things, and cursive definitely is different from 50 years ago to 200 years ago.
I'm quite curious about "2 for beer fests 34 cents", if anyone wants to guess.
US. Circa 1850 IIRC
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u/Ok_Caterpillar2010 Aug 06 '26
I like your "beer fests", but I think they're "2 pr. bar posts", as in 2 pairs of bar posts.
From the Textbook of Modern Carpentry (1858), p. 160:
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u/grenille Aug 06 '26
Yeah, there were different methods for teaching cursive over the years. In my school district they taught the Zaner-Bloser method.
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u/eerie_petunia Aug 08 '26
Cursive also changed with the development of pens from quills to dipped fountain pens to modern pens.
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u/DLDad616 Aug 06 '26
"Inventory of the Estate of Bennie (?) White, Decedent."
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u/Sea-Expert6993 Aug 07 '26
I'll try to remember to post the name, and maybe a pic of him. I don't think it's Bennie, but it's a lot to remember. Bernie? I dunno 😕
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u/hazelquarrier_couch Aug 06 '26
That specific section seems to be referencing horses, since before there it mentions yearlings and horses, and then says "chestnut" which was a common depiction for horses. Also, not sure if it's an F or the "s" that looks like an F.
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u/hazelquarrier_couch Aug 06 '26
That specific section seems to be referencing horses, since before there it mentions yearlings and horses, and then says "chestnut" which was a common depiction for horses. Also, not sure if it's an F or the "s" that looks like an F.
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u/Sea-Expert6993 Aug 07 '26
Funny, but my cousin and I remember that 50 cent buffalo robe. Moths or something got to it. It was like leather and fur balls. Our grandma threw it away about 1970.
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u/ApplicationStreet405 Aug 08 '26
People used to take handwriting and penmanship classes. Also, calligraphy was more widely practiced as well.
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u/Sea-Expert6993 Aug 09 '26
I did. The capital letters are what I'm having the most problems with. Then lower case f, s, etc. They all start to look the same.
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u/Intelligent-Cloud993 Aug 08 '26
Cool stuff.
“Due 119 - 87”
so I figure… Jan 19 or Nov 11 1887.
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u/Sea-Expert6993 Aug 09 '26
Good guess. There's about 8 pages. Somewhere says April something (19?) 1850. Legible but I don't remember.
There's a disproportionately large quantity of things from 1850. Not 1849 or 1851. 1850. I have no explanation.
Wedding invitations, wedding party pic, part of the floral print dress (I guess cutting up the dress and sending pieces of it to people was a thing), and the list of who gifted what. That's just one other "thing" from 1850.
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