When it comes to Colorado history, we don’t often think of old records; not the vinyl ones, the ones that keep track of persons and places, that were written in cursive.
Fewer People Understanding Cursive Writing Jeopardize Colorado’s History
It already is a foreign language to some young people: cursive writing. The angles, the swoops of connected letters. These people have no idea what very old record entries are trying to tell them/us about Colorado’s past.
With hand-written records going back to the 1800s or earlier, writings like as shown above, might as well be a foreign language to some in the future.
I have a friend who does research on old homes in the Denver area, and often times needs to find out who owned a home or property way back in the day. Those records are kept at county assessors’ offices across the state.
On a trip to Leadville to track down some Colorado history at the Lake County Assessor’s Office, my friend was told that they’re having a hard time finding people to join their team. It’s not about the pay or the hours, it’s because those who apply cannot read the records, because they are written in cursive…