By The People Transcription Project

Actual examples of the many variations of how particular letters were written in the old "Secretary Hand" handwriting.

Examples of Spencerian Handwriting.

Although this site is intended for genealogists (family historians), it contains a long list of many common abbreviations you may see in early handwriting, particularly those taken from Latin.

A table from the FamilySearch website which shows how indexers and transcribers sometimes misread handwriting. The column on the left shows the actual spelling. The column on the right shows what the indexer or transcriber sometimes thought he or she saw. The mistakes are given in order of probability. Bold mistakes are especially common.

Since around the 9th century, English has been written in the Latin alphabet, which replaced Anglo-Saxon runes. The spelling system, or orthography, is multilayered, with elements of French, Latin and Greek spelling on top of the native Germanic system. This site shows examples of different versions of English handwriting.

LInks to cursive writing charts from a blog post by the Ancestry Insider.

These tips are specific to the Library of Virginia's "Making History: Transcribe" project, but have good ideas for our project, as well.

A few examples of names written in old handwriting.

Handwriting styles have changed over time. In early records the handwriting is quite different from what it is today. This site provides handwriting and language aids.

This list from the FamilySearch wiki contains French words with their English translations.

Examples of the various ways letters were written in several Germanic handwriting styles. Helpful if you come across a document written in German.

This list from the FamilySearch wiki contains German words with their English translations.

Latin is the language of the Romans. Through the continuing influence of Roman civilization and the use of Latin by the Catholic Church many genealogical resources are written in Latin. This page from the FamilySearch wiki provides information about the language, including grammar, and a Latin to English wordlist.

This list from the FamilySearch wiki contains Spanish words with their English translations.

World lists for many other world languages from the FamilySearch wiki.