Master Penman Certificate

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I am in awe. Sheer awe that any living human being can produce such beauty.  My congratulations, such as it may be worth, to you Connie.  The provenance of your certificate is of no consequence when measured against the simply breathtaking execution of it. To me you epitomise what a Master Penwoman is.  Awesome!

[Andrew H]

people were made Master Penman through schools or other Masters they apprenticed under and had to take an examination in their scripts

As far as I know, in 19th and early 20th century American calligraphy, people were not made 'Master Penman' per se because no one doled out that specific title to people, and people didn't bill themselves as 'Master Penman' (Though I think the term was used *rarely* to describe other people such as Madarasz, after he died), instead they used terms like 'Penman', 'Penman Artist', 'Professor of Penmanship', 'Penman Engrosser' and so forth. I believe the term 'Master Penman' as a formal title and as some sort of program is an entirely modern creation:

This is also my understanding. I was interested to hear Michael Sull claim on this video that "the typical way that they graduated was creating their own certificate. If it was of the highest quality, they were given the title 'Master Penman'". That would seem to be implying a direct lineage that (as far as I'm aware) doesn't exist. However, I'm a bit suspicious that that's not exactly what he actually said, the video sounds as if that sentence has been spliced together from three separate statements.

[Erica McPhee]

Interesting discussion. However, out of respect to Connie, if anyone would like to continue discussing the history of the title of Master Penman, please start a new topic. Thank you. 

[Andrew H]

Of course, you're right Erica, that was a bit thoughtless of me! Apologies Connie, I didn't intend to detract from your thread.

[Erica McPhee]

Not at all Andrew. Thank you for conscientiousness. I just didn't want to see the thread take a detour. 

[Joel]

Congratulations Connie! May the good Lord bless you always. Thank you so much for inspiring us.

[TomF]

Congratulations Connie. Like the certificate, love the story. God bless, Tom