We have found that this introduction is especially useful for early-stage history graduate students with projects involving early modern English archives. The Folger also holds one of the largest collections of recipe books, which afford insights into domestic life and social networks. Deciphering marginalia is always a popular aspect of this course.

Applications are due Monday, March 3. Those who already have intermediate paleography skills will not be competitive, so tell your friends who seek an introduction to the hands of early modern England about this opportunity.

Those seeking an introduction to the handwriting of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England should apply to join:

Introduction to English Paleography (weeklong skills course)

Directed by Heather Wolfe (Folger Shakespeare Library)

This weeklong course provides an intensive introduction to handwriting in early modern England, with a particular emphasis on the English secretary hand of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Working from digitized and physical manuscripts, participants will be trained in the accurate reading and transcription of secretary, italic, and mixed hands. The workshop’s focus will include recipe books, personal correspondence, and poetry miscellanies drawn from the Folger collection. Participants will experiment with contemporary writing materials (quills, iron gall ink, and paper); learn the terminology for describing and comparing letterforms; and become skillful decipherers of abbreviations, numbers, and dates. Transcriptions made by participants will become part of the Early Modern Manuscripts Online (EMMO) corpus.

Director: Dr. Heather Wolfe is Consulting Curator of Manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library. She was formerly Associate Librarian, co-director of the multi-year research project Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures, and principal investigator of Early Modern Manuscripts Online. Author of numerous articles on early modern manuscripts, Dr. Wolfe has edited The Literary Career and Legacy of Elizabeth Cary, 1613–1680 (2007), The Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608: A Facsimile Edition of Folger Shakespeare Library MS V.b.232 (2007), Letterwriting in Renaissance England (2004) (with Alan Stewart), and Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland: Life and Letters (2001). She is currently working on a book on early modern writing paper in England.

Anticipated Schedule: Tuesday through Saturday, May 27-31, 2025, at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Apply: March 3, 2025, for admission and grants-in-aid for Folger Institute Consortium affiliates.

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