SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Monique McGowan sharpens a No. 2 pencil, straightens her posture and sharply slants her notebook to prepare for her weekly lesson in cursive. She and other third-graders at ...

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 ...

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 ...

A third memory is of penmanship lessons, scheduled occasionally during the year. These were special occasions, because first there was a session of endlessly putting pencil to lined buff-colored paper ...