Library Hand- Dewey & Edison

Pretty much gone, but not forgotten

With the advent of electronic library catalogs card catalogs have largely disappeared.

Once librarians learned a specific form of writing called “Library Hand” which is remembered and written about by library historians and other interested people.

David Kaminski, who maintains the Kaminski Handwriting Collection¹ traces the origins of library hand as it emerged and as it still exists in the long and misunderstood history of American penmanship in all of its varieties and complexities. His online website,  “The Context and History of Library Hand,” is a frequently updated essay which explains the connection between Thomas Edison and Melvil Dewey. ²

A recent article by Liliia Prokopenko³ provides an international history.

The history of the development and use of library handwriting in the cataloging practice of different countries of the world (USA, Germany, Russian Empire, USSR) is considered. Special attention is given to the study of the stage of creation of library handwriting in the USA at the end of the 19th century in the context of the activities of the American Library Association and the first library schools. The main tasks, characteristics and features of library handwriting as a special direct handwritten font are disclosed. Requirements for library handwriting are analyzed, such as legibility, clarity, simplicity, speed, uniformity, compactness, thriftiness, refinedness, lack of pressure, etc.

Larry Nix at Library History Buff has a grand entry on Library Hand written when the Library of Congress discontinued its service of providing printed catalog cards to libraries.⁴ He includes cards in Library Hand from Harvard and a small Wisconsin library.(the Wisconsin card is the better example).

Kelly Jensen, writing at Book Riot explains where Library Hand may still be seen:

Chances are in older libraries, particularly academic institutions that preserve their library catalogs either for nostalgic purposes or because they contain information not easily included in the online component — think rarer materials, like those noted in the Newberry Library — you may stumble upon library hand.⁵

1. Kaminski, David (continuous). Kaminski Handwriting Collection (continuous).

2. Kaminski, David (continuous). The Context and History of Library Hand.

3. Liliia Prokopenko (2019). “Library Handwriting: Legibility, Clarity, Speed, Uniformity, Compactness.” Library journal [Bìblìotečnij vìsnik], (6) 32-42. (In Ukrainan).

4. Nix, Larry (June 24, 2016). Library Handwriting..

5. Jensen, Kelly (2021). “A History of Library Hand.” Book Riot.