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Sample writing from The Palmer Method of Business Writing. The Palmer Method of penmanship instruction was developed and promoted by Austin Palmer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was intended to simplify the earlier "Spencerian method", which had been the main handwriting learning method since the 1840s. [1] The Palmer Method soon ...
Detail from Zaner's 1896 article: The Line of Direction in Writing [3] A major factor contributing to the development of the Zaner-Bloser teaching script was Zaner's study of the body movements required to create the form of cursive letters when using the 'muscular arm method' of handwriting – such as the Palmer Method – which was prevalent in the United States from the late 19th century.
In the early 20th century, Palmer's method of handwriting came on the tail of nearly a half-century of ornamental writing and offered a more simplified, fast, legible, and economic form of writing for the youth and business people of the day. As a young boy, Palmer worked his way through G. A. Gaskell's penmanship school as a janitor and chore boy.
Spencerian script, a form of cursive handwriting, was also widely integrated into the school system as an instructional method until the "simpler" Palmer Method replaced it. President James A. Garfield called the Spencerian script, "the pride of our country and the model of our schools." [3]
Mills's business writing was based on the muscular arm movement, first published as the Palmer Method; forearms resting on a horizontal surface, the wrist of the writing hand raised from the page, and the pen controlled using the arm instead of fingers; commonly promoted at the time to reduce hand fatigue and to which Mills referred as free arm ...
The policy of teaching cursive in American elementary schools has varied over time, from strict endorsement such as the Palmer method in the early 20th century, to removal by Common Core in 2010, to being reinstated. [1] On official forms, one is often asked to "please print".
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Many copybooks were produced in North America at the start of the 20th century, mostly for Business Style penmanship (a simplified form of Ornamental Style). These included those produced by A. N. Palmer, a student of Gaskell, who developed the Palmer Method, as reflected in his Palmer's Guide to Business Writing, published in 1894