AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS NAME OF COLLECTION: Penmanship Collection, 1762-1856 LOCATION(S): Octavo vols. "P" Oversize mss. boxes "P" SIZE OF COLLECTION: 22 octavo volumes; 3 folio volumes; 1 folder (1 item) SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON COLLECTION: SOURCE OF COLLECTION: Gifts of Mrs. Elizabeth G. May, 1917; Elizabeth Goff Peirce, 1920; Charles H. Taylor, 1926; Eva March Tappan, 1930; Mrs. Edwin I. Comins, 1942; the estate of Russell M. Stobbs, 1976. Some volumes purchased from Benjamin J. Tighe, 1949; Ken Leach, 1985, 1994; Page & Parchment, 1995; Aiglatson, 2004. Two volumes were transferred from the AAS's Arithmetic Book Collection. COLLECTION DESCRIPTION: The penmanship collection consists of twenty-five copybooks, for the period 1762 to 1856, representing the work of students from various locations, e.g., Boston, Charlton, Gloucester, Leicester, and Salem, Mass., Brunswick, Me., Eastford, Conn., and New York and Fisher's Island, N.Y. The books, many with illustrated covers, contain examples of penmanship learning methods, including progressions from letters to sentences, practice-copying of verses and essays, plain and ornamental script, "ladies' epistolary writing," and "gentlemen's business hand." Several books also contain examples of paraphs, and others are divided into cypher books with detailed arithmetic and accounting problems. Represented in the collection are Nathaniel Allen, of Fisher's Island, N.Y.; Andrew Bigelow; Almira F. Bray, of Gloucester, Mass.; Marcell Brown; Mary Clough; Reuben Comins (1819- ), of Charlton, Mass.; James Coombs; Sarah W. Gill, of New York, N.Y.; Benjamin Goddard, Jr.; Simon Ray Greene; Mary Elizabeth Hovey (1829-1892); Lucy Ann Keyes, of Eastford, Conn.; Betsey Ann Lincoln (1817-1904); Rev. Samuel May (1810-1899), of Leicester, Mass.; Josiah B. Peele, of Salem, Mass.; Dan. F. Plummer; S. G. Rea; Rebeckah Salisbury, of Boston, Mass.; Samuel Salisbury (1769-1849); Almyra Sprague; Mary B. Thomas; Almond Tracy (1800- ); and Lincoln Varney, of Brunswick, Me.
Penmanship Collection, 1762-1856 Collection Description (cont.) 2 The oversize folder contains two items: a petition, dated May 1764, of John Vinal (1736-1832), writingmaster and usher of the South-Writing School, to the town of Boston, regarding debt incurred while ill with small pox; and a mathematics exercis
Penmanship Collection, 1762-1856 Collection Description (cont.) 3 AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS DEPARTMENT PENMANSHIP COLLECTION, 1762-1856 CONTENTS LIST OCTAVO VOLUME DATE NAME ITEM 1 n.d. Almond Tracy Writing Book [purchased from Page & Parchment, 1995] bound in blue wrappers 2 n.d. Mary Elizabeth Hovey Writing Book 3 n.d. Betsey Ann Lincoln Practical Penmanship [gift of the estate of Russell M. Stobbs, 1976] 4 1762 Mary Clough [gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Goffe Peirce, 1920] colored, patterned wrapper 5 1780 Samuel Salisbury bound in colored, raised floral patterned wrapper 6 1785 Andrew Bigelow 7 1795 Dan. F. Plummer [gift of Charles H. Taylor, 1926] bound in vellum (missing back cover) 8 1801 Simon Ray Greene 9 1808 Josiah B. Peele, of Salem, Mass. 10 1809 Josiah B. Peele, of Salem, Mass. 11 1817 Almyra Sprague Writing Book [bequest of Eva March Tappan, 1930] 12 1821 S. G. Rea
Penmanship Collection, 1762-1856 Collection Description (cont.) 4 [purchased from Ken Leach, 1985] 13 1826 Sarah W. Gill, of New York [purchased from Benjamin J. Tighe, 1949] 14 1844 James Coombs [purchased from Benjamin J. Tighe, 1949] 15 1848 Lucy Ann Keyes, of Eastford, Conn. Writing Book 16 1856 Mary B. Thomas [purchased from Ken Leach, 1994] 17 n.d. Benjamin Goddard, Jr. 18 1822 Samuel May, of Leicester, Mass. 19 1823 Samuel May, of Leicester, Mass. 20 1833 Reuben Comins, of Charlton, Mass. [gift of Elizabeth G. May, 1917] [gift of Elizabeth G. May, 1917] [gift of Mrs. Edwin I. Comins, 1942] 21 1839 Almira F. Bray [purchased from Aiglatson, 2003] kept in Towndrow's New and Improved Writing Books... By T. Towndrow... Part V.... Salem. Published by Ives and Jewett. 1838.... 22 n.d. Marcell Brown [purchased from Aiglatson, 2003] kept in Jewett's Economical Writing Book.... Salem: Published by John P. Jewett & Co. 1844.....
Penmanship Collection, 1762-1856 Collection Description (cont.) 5 OCTAVO VOLUME DATE NAME ITEM 1 1847 Lincoln Varney, of Brunswick, Me. Cypher Book 2 1788 Rebeckah Salisbury, of Boston, Mass. [transferred from Arithmetic Book Collection, 1975] 3 1805 Nathaniel Allen, of Fisher's Island, N.Y. Cyphering Book [transferred from Arithmetic Book Collection, 1975]