Historians back campaign to halt demise of hand writing but caution the example of Marx
The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, has backed a campaign to encourage more people to write by hand.
The campaign has gathered examples of hand writing by well known people which are being auctioned to raise funds for Three Peas which helps the distressed and refugees.
At the same time the National Literacy Trust has reported that 36% of school students rarely if ever write by hand preferring mobile phones, tablets and laptops
The historians say that while electronic communication is a great boost in many areas there are significant concerns that material that is published in an e-format will not be retained for posterity and future historians.
There is no guarantee that hand written communications will be preserved but they certainly won’t be taken off-line and become unavailable.
LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, of course Karl Marx had notoriously illegible handwriting and was once turned down for aa railway clerk’s job because his script simply could not be read. Fortunately for historians, Engels could read it.
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