SPENCERIAN PENMANSHIP

style of cursive script developed by Platt Rogers Spencer (d. 1864) of Geneva, Ohio. Energetically promoted by five sons and a nephew, the Spencerian method became the most widely known system of handwriting instruction in the third quarter of the 19th century. In partnership with Victor M. Rice, who became New York state superintendent of public instruction, Spencer in 1848 began issuing engraved copy slips in series and by the thousands. These were followed in the 1850s by copybooks with engraved and lithographed models that were used in American schoolrooms for several decades.