Letters from Loved Ones

[AnasaziWrites]

Inspired by Matthew_R's post and the enthusiastic response to share similar posts, I'll start this thread here for anyone interested in the idea of posting samples of handwriting from friends and relatives of the past (or present, if you like).  Any ideas welcome. Even your own writing.

Here is a picture of my grandmother (fathers mother) at age 18, in 1912, and the earliest sample of her writing I could find at the moment, written in 1922.



Here she is in 1971, and a sample of a letter she sent my parents a few months earlier. Still very legible at age 77. The Mike she is referring to is me.

[Judy G]

Oooohh...I know my mom kept my grandpa's letters! Will have to ask her to take a photo of it.

Such a cool idea...thank you for starting this thread

[scrapbookmom]

Lovely idea!!!

[AnasaziWrites]

Here's another before and after, this one is my mother's handwriting over the years.
The top writing is from a scrapbook she kept, the writing  describing her time at a prom in 1941. She was taught the Palmer method of writing in school.
On the bottom is a photo I took of her on her 70th birthday, with a note she wrote a few weeks earlier. 50 years had passed and her writing looks the same. Below that, a postcard she wrote at age 80--amazingly the same. I guess your writing remains the same over a lifetime, unless steps are taken to change it along the way.

[FlowerCityLetters]

Oh I love this so much. I wish I had something of my grandma's. I can picture her writing in my head and she had the most beautiful hands. Thanks for starting this - great idea!

[AnasaziWrites]

Oooohh...I know my mom kept my grandpa's letters! Will have to ask her to take a photo of it.

Such a cool idea...thank you for starting this thread

Did you get any letters from your grandpa?

[Judy G]

Did you get any letters from your grandpa?

My mom's still searching for it, they just moved to a new house. It's probably in one of those boxes full of their missing items!

[AmandaDavis]

I love this thread! I have letters from my great grandfather to his grandmother, I believe. However, I can't find them, so I may have put them in my safe deposit box to protect them. I'll try to dig then out the next time I go to the bank.  They should be from the early 1900s.

[Judy G]

This is my uncle's (mom's older brother). He "inherited" my grandpa's writing.

[AnasaziWrites]

This is my uncle's (mom's older brother). He "inherited" my grandpa's writing.

This is very nice handwriting. Did he learn it from your grandfather?

[Judy G]

This is very nice handwriting. Did he learn it from your grandfather?

I'm not quite sure, but I am guessing yes. My mom said most of my grandpa's letters were kept by my uncle.

[Inked botanicals]

I can't show you any writting sample right now, but I am going to ask my mother if she has anything. But I can show you my grandfather's roller pen, which I remember he carried always in his shirt pocket with a little book of crosswords. And also his father's ink well! I love it! My mother told me to use it, but I am afraid of break it or ruin it in any way! He had a document written over the years of his life with dates of marriages and births of his wife, sons, daughters and granchildren. I have a copy somewhere, I am sure! But I can't find it 

[Judy G]

Alba! That is a gorgeous inkwell!

[Inked botanicals]

Alba! That is a gorgeous inkwell!

We keep it on the living room, with all the framed family photos, it is like the center piece! 

[FlowerCityLetters]

Came across this while digging around in our storage bins. This card from written to one of my boyfriend's great great aunts. How cool is that writing? Also, bonus points for an awesome Charlie Chaplin card. I really like that R.