Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on pens and penmanship. As beautiful writing instruments became more available in the 1800s, an interest in creating beautiful penmanship also ...

HEBRON, Ill. (AP) -- The pen might be mightier than the sword, but for Thomas Tufo, bad penmanship nullifies the greatest ideas because no one can read the words. For many afflicted with poor or ...

Unlike probably most people, I enjoy the act of writing by hand — but I’ve always disliked signing my name. Why is that? I think it’s because signatures are supposed to be in cursive, or else they don ...

Remember fountain pens; and cursive penmanship lessons in grade school? Remember those big cardboard examples of the Palmer Method upper and lower case letters above the chalkboard? Or did your school ...

The other day Jim-the-Landlord asked me if I had any stationery. "Not the little thank-you-note kind," he said. "I need to write a letter." Boy, did he come to the right place. Since forever I have ...

Editor’s note: Kate Coleman has been away. This column first appeared in The Herald-Mail on Jul. 5, 2013. A couple of years ago, my sister Patti visited and brought me items she and her twin Maureen ...

Words are an essential means of communication, yet how we put them down in writing has been continuously shaped over time by technologies, cultural and business needs, and education. Once a universal ...