Before reading this article, I had no idea that early penmanship was code for social status. I was hooked by the first two paragraphs:

Imagine a world in which the font you use is chosen for you, based entirely on your demographic affiliations. All doctors write in Garamond, while designers are mandated Futura Bold. Middle-aged men get Arial; women, Helvetica. Goofy aunts must use Comic Sans. 

Seem strange? A few centuries ago, that was just how things worked. In colonial America, "the very style in which one formed letters was determined by one’s place in society," writes historian Tamara Thornton in Handwriting in America: A Cultural History. Thanks to the rigorous teachings of professionals called “penmen,” merchants wrote strong, loopy logbooks, women’s words were intricate and shaded, and upper-class men did whatever they felt like. So different were the results, says Thornton, that “a fully literate stranger could evaluate the social significance of a letter… simply by noting what hand it had been written in.”

Today, we worry that our students cannot read cursive of any kind. Maybe it should be taught as part of history classes. It is, after all, an important part of historical literacy. 

Where have all the penmen gone?

The Mayflower Compact 1620

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99471902/ 

3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 English/Language Arts Social Studies/History penmanship handwriting cursive