Read Old Handwriting (Paleography)

Before transcribing a document, it is useful to know more about the context in which it was created. If you already know various phrases that are likely to appear in a document, it will be easier to recognize them when they appear in the text. These phrases can then be used to decipher other words you may come across that are difficult to read.

The steps detailed below have been adapted from The National Archives, UK, Paleography Tutorial.

As The National Archives, UK notes: “When copying a document always transcribe: this is when you retain the original spellings. Do not translate, this is when the words are changed into modern spelling.” 

It is critical that the first time you read and transcribe from a handwritten manuscript, you retain all of the original spellings. 

Later, when expanding on a word that was abbreviated in the original text, letters that have been changed/added should be places in square brackets “[ ]” to make it easy to distinguish between the original document and the “translated” version. These square brackets can also be used if/when you are unsure of a word.

An example of this:

Sarah E. Archer, The Diaries of Lady Amherst, 1823-1828. William Pitt and Sarah Archer Family Papers, coll. no. MA.00295, Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, vol. 4, p. 50.

Lady Amherst was the wife of William Pitt Amherst, who was the Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal (1823-1828). Her seven-volume diaries are the most significant documentation of Lord Amherst’s time in India, which include descriptions of day-to-day occurrences, some of her own sketches, as well as other illustrations and ephemera bound in or laid in.

Transcription:

4th. a violent storm & change of wind to 

fair - we sail'd uninterruptedly & arriv'd at

[Busear], a distance of [?] or 16 miles [?]

5 o'clock in the Town, it is large native

Town, intersected with Pine trees, its 

appearance from the River is very pretty, 

there is a European Settlement at one 

end, half a mile distant from the Town 

where a small number of English have 

built pretty Bungalows by the River

Translation:

4th. A violent storm & change of wind to fair - we [sailed] uninterruptedly & [arrived] at [Busear], a distance of [?] or 16 miles [?] 5 o'clock. It is a large native town, intersected with pine trees, its appearance from the river is very pretty. There is a European settlement at one end, half a mile distant from the town, where a small number of English have built pretty bungalows by the river. 

A note like: "A few changes in punctuation and capitalization have been made to make reading easier," could accompany the transcription when referring to it in an academic paper. 

It is important to note, not all words will be spelled the same as they are today. In this case, it may be helpful to refer to other transcribed documents of the time to see if you can gain a better understanding of what the writer may have been conveying.

Context also plays a critical role in spelling. For instance, in Lady Amherst's diaries, which were written in the early 19th century, cities across South Asia are referred to with their British names, or names that have not been used for over a century. 

For some documents, there may also be strange punctuation marks or dashes above or in between letters. These are abbreviation marks that have been put in by the writer in places where they have deliberately omitted a letter or more. This was done for reasons including speed and saving space on the paper. 

For instance, as the above transcription suggests, Sarah Amherst used a " ' " to replace the letter "e" in words ending with "-ed." A trend which recurs throughout all seven of her diaries.

• "arrived" is spelled as "arriv'd"

She also uses a notation similar to "&" to denote "and."