Penmanship Exhibit Runs Through Dec. 15

Between now and Dec.15, visitors are invited to The Weinberg Memorial Library Heritage Room autumn exhibit, Learning to Write: American Penmanship Manuals from the David Kaminski and Zaner-Bloser Collections 1791-1980. 

"The exhibit was conceived as a background for summer conference attendees to look at while working with original penmanship samples during their workshops in July. Since they were working with original penwork, I decided to create an exhibit of printed material. Between the two collections, we have a very large number of penmanship manuals, mostly the publications students would use to practice handwriting," said Professor Michael Knies, Special Collections Librarian.

"This exhibit presents a small sample from our collections with an emphasis on early manuals and 19th century manuals with decorative covers. While not the most visually engaging, we have the very first penmanship manual published in the United States, John Jenkins The Art of Writing printed in 1791, as well as the 1813 second edition. Along with manuals, there are letters written by P. R Spencer and A. H. Dunton, the two most important mid-19th century penmen who published competing instruction manuals.

Visitors can judge for themselves who had the better handwriting. There are also examples of work by two of the greatest late 19th century penmen, Daniel Ames and Charles Zaner, founder of the Zaner-Bloser Penmanship Company," he added.

The exhibit will run through Friday, Dec.15. For more information contact Prof. Knies at Michael.Knies@scranton.edu or 570-941-6341.