As an avid writer and self-proclaimed hoarder, my apartment is filled with notebooks that hold a treasure trove of journal entries and school assignments. Without dates, I can still determine which era of my life each page belongs to just by examining the handwriting. The earliest examples, from my elementary school days, reveal angular and jagged print, even the curved letters like ‘s’ and ‘j’ have sharp corners. During middle school, as I desperately attempted to exude femininity (with little success), I transformed my letters, making them rounder and each curve resembling a bubble ready to burst. In my junior year of high school, when thoughts of college applications loomed, I switched to the elegant and controlled script of cursive writing.
Each metamorphosis I made aligned with the long-standing American belief that individuals, and even specific types of people, can be defined by their handwriting. However, this form of communication may now be obsolete in today’s age of digital text, where handwritten notes are a rarity, and our ability to assess someone’s character based on their penmanship is diminished. Handwriting, once a language of its own, is slowly fading away.
Throughout history, the way that people interpret and read handwriting has evolved. Until the 1800s, writing styles were not seen as forms of self-expression, but rather as markers of social status and profession. “Merchants, for example, were expected to use fonts that conveyed speed and efficiency,” explains Tamara Plakins Thornton, a historian at SUNY Buffalo and author of Handwriting in America. Lawyers had their own distinct script, while aristocrats favored another style. These distinctions were enforced by social norms, teachers, and the expectations of clients, colleagues, and employers.
Even men and women were assigned different handwriting styles. Men were taught “muscular handwriting,” using a larger roundhand script that required more pressure on the quill or pen. Women, on the other hand, learned a narrower Italian script akin to italic writing. This compressed style, according to handwriting expert Ewan Clayton from the University of Sunderland, was reminiscent of how women’s waists were restricted by contemporary fashion. Eventually, women adapted to using roundhand as well.
The belief that handwriting styles could reveal meaningful information about an individual and their true nature gained popularity in the 19th century. This coincided with the rise of typewriters, which freed penmanship from professional constraints and allowed for more personal expression. Handwriting became viewed as a reflection of one’s self, with the character of script believed to indicate the character of a person, as Mark Alan Mattes, an assistant English professor at the University of Louisville, explains.
The field of graphology emerged during this time, treating handwriting as a means of psychological analysis. Edgar Allan Poe, intrigued by scientific measurements, analyzed the signatures of over 100 writers in the 1840s, making correlations between their lines and squiggles and their prose styles. This belief in graphology’s validity persisted, as seen in an 1892 guide that claimed people who connected all their letters at the base were deductive thinkers, while those with more spaced-out letters were intuitive.
Graphology continued into the early 20th century, with studies suggesting that one could accurately guess a person’s gender based on their handwriting—an idea that contradicted the previous teaching that boys and girls should write differently. Handwriting was even analyzed for character traits, with claims that missing dots on ‘i’s were associated with non-submissiveness and non-egocentricity, while circled dots indicated intelligence. However, as the age of computers took over, handwriting analysis moved further into the fringes. Time magazine declared the death of handwriting in 2009, and since then, the digitalization of our lives has only accelerated.
Nowadays, many of the qualities once conveyed through handwriting can be expressed in alternative ways. For example, the act of putting pen to paper can create a sense of personal authenticity and direct contact with the author’s personality. Seth Perlow, an associate English professor at Georgetown, has observed the practice of posting handwritten poems on Instagram and notes that it evokes these feelings. Even tech companies have attempted to replicate this experience by offering computer-generated “handwriting” services using robots. However, these services risk coming across as impersonal and lazy, as they lack the effort and personal touch of writing by hand.
To clarify, graphology is regarded as “complete B.S.” by experts like Tamara Plakins Thornton. Very few intrinsic factors influence an individual’s handwriting, and it is not an indicator of intelligence or messy versus organized thinking. Handwriting can address conditions affecting movement but does not reveal moral character or other complex traits. Instead, handwriting reflects an individual’s socialization and their learned ways of presenting themselves to the world.
I recall practicing my letters as a child whenever boredom struck in class. I would adjust elements I disliked, such as adding or removing the belts from my ‘7’s and the caps from my ‘a’s. Testing out a new handwriting style was akin to trying on a new outfit in front of a mirror, assessing how it looked and knowing that others would see it too. However, as handwriting becomes less integrated into our daily lives, it is no longer an arena for self-expression. It is merely a skill one must acquire and utilize to the best of their ability. If you wish to assert your identity nowadays, you are more likely to do so by sculpting your appearance, including pronouns in your Instagram bio, or updating your LinkedIn profile to reflect your professional status.
Interestingly, qualities once associated with specific handwriting styles, such as a literary inclination or emotional openness, can now be conveyed simply by the act of using pen and paper. Seth Perlow has examined the phenomenon of posting handwritten poems on Instagram and notes that it evokes a sense of personal authenticity and expressiveness. As technology advances, companies have developed computer-generated handwriting services, allowing customers to choose from various “handwriting” styles for automated transcriptions. However, these tools may lack the personal touch and authenticity of writing by hand, potentially appearing thoughtless and lazy. If a friend or family member were to send me such a card, I would be disappointed by their lack of effort in writing their own message with their own hand.
Overall, the history of handwriting and its interpretation has evolved over time. From being a marker of social status and profession, to a reflection of one’s true character, to its diminishing relevance in the digital age, handwriting continues to change. Nowadays, it is no longer seen as a reliable indicator of personal traits but can still impart a sense of personal authenticity when used.
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