Reading Cursive To Unlock The Past

by Midnight Freemasons Contributor

Jim Stapleton

The US National Archives recently asked an interesting question - is reading cursive your superpower? The Citizen Archivist program is looking for assistance with transcribing documents, especially with ones that are written in cursive. “Many of the documents at the National Archives are handwritten records such as letters, memos, and reports, many of the words within those documents are not picked up by a search in our Catalog.”1 Through this program, volunteers can sign up for an account and then after receiving instructions and training, they can get started contributing to the effort. 

Transcribing governmental records is important in order to make information available in digital form. According to the Royal Historical Society, digitizing historical records is necessary “to make collections accessible to remote audiences; to enable text searching, and to allow for new types of research.”2 What makes the need to digitize documents even more crucial now is that older documents are often written in cursive because they were created by hand. However, in the United States there are younger generations that are no longer being taught penmanship in schools. This is mainly due to the US Government removing cursive requirements in 2010 from Common Core Standards for K-12 Education.3In addition to not being able to write in cursive, younger generations are also not able to read cursive. This could lead to a significant problem when future citizens want to conduct research of original historical texts. 

What does this have to do with Freemasonry? Our Fraternity also has many handwritten records dating back hundreds of years. Many Lodges have boxes full of documents sitting in their attics. We have Lodge Register books where members sign in to indicate their attendance at meetings and events. What will happen when future generations of Masons eventually look through these 

materials and they cannot decipher any of them? Do we need our own version of the Citizen Archivist program to transcribe Masonic documents so that they can be researchable in the years to come? Will we need to teach younger Masons how to read and write in cursive? 

If we truly want to encourage Masonic research and education, we will need to take into account this potential educational deficit that will soon impact us. Freemasonry has a rich and storied history that we should work to preserve. Otherwise, our Fraternity will be no different than any number of social clubs. 

1. https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/faqs 

2. https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2023/01/17/historical-research-in-the-digital-age-part-3-why archivists-digitise-and-why-it-matters/ 

3. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/03/1140610714/what-students-lost-since-cursive-writing-wa s-cut-from-the-common-core-standards

~JS

Jim Stapleton is the Senior Warden of USS New Jersey Lodge No. 62. He is also a member of the New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education No. 1786. Jim received the Distinguished White Apron Award from the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. He was awarded the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award. Jim is also a member of the Society of King Solomon.