Following on my musings about cattle drives.
The 1850s gold rush populated and shaped California, and also created another temporary development before the railroads pushed through.
Look at the Copperplate cursive on these letters sent back East by prospectors. Almost indecipherable to modern eyes but highly expressive. These men were not poor or uneducated. It takes a fair amount of money to buy wagons and oxen and provisions. It also takes a fair number of years to master the artistic flourishes of Copperplate.
Copperplate gradually moderated down to Palmer, which was still being taught in the 1930s. By the ’50s, American schools were teaching a squarish and ugly cursive with the ugly name of Zaner-Bloser, though a few in my generation still learned Palmer. Now handwriting is not taught at all.
The latest gold rush in California is specifically aimed at eliminating all hand and body actions, not just writing. Web3, metaverse, AI. We’re supposed to become a disembodied cortex with no muscles or cerebellum or feedback loops.
Polistra's Mill 