Catholic School Penmanship and FPs

[Sparky]

Palmer Method is what was taught in Catholic School.

[Onion]

I went to catholic school in the 60's and 70's and I am only now beginning to be able to write without flinching! Man those old bats could wield a piece of wood better than Barry Bonds... In fact I referred to one nun as Sister Willie Mays... that didn't go over to well... she had a way of "Homering" me when I got out of hand... yep I was a trouble maker.

[Mary P]

I started St. Patrick School in 1957. We were the first class required to use the "new" Sheaffer cartridge pen. All previous classes had used Esterbrook fountain pens.

 

We were encouraged to enter penmanship competitions. I loved handwriting and practiced. I proudly wore several Palmer pins on my unifrom sweater.

 

Ballpoints of any kind were forbidden but by the time we had reached 5th grade we were permitted to use the fountain pen of our choosing. I used a Sheaffer Sovereign.

 

We could use any ink colour except red. Through most of 8th grade I used Sheaffer Peacock just because Sister Manette hated the colour. wasn't too fond of her since she constantly compared me to my mother whom she had also taught. The rest of the time I happily used the Sheaffer permanent blue black that my Gran purchased in big bottles.

 

I continued to use my Sheaffer Sovereign at Aquinas Academy although I could have used ballpoints if I had wanted to. I never cared for the blobbing or the way my handwriting looked when I used the Lindy stick pens that were then popular. In college I used Rapidograph pens in some of my classes, mechanical pencils for my accounting classes and fountain pens or Flairs for my class notes.

 

I still use fountain pens almost exclusively. I carry an old Jotter with a gel refill for the times when a fountain pen just won't do.

 

I've been an associate member of the Tacoma Dominicans for 12 years. Some of my former teachers are now dear friends. I retired as the director of a small ecumenical non-profit last week. Next week I'll begin volunteering at my parish serving the people who come daily seeking rent and utility assistance.

[Sonnet]

Is the Palmer Method the style that was taught in Catholic schools, or were there competing methods? My mom went to Catholic school and has great cursive handwriting, but no clue what it is called other than "cursive". It doesn't quite look like examples of the Palmer Method that I've seen online, but I suspect that may be because of her own modifications over time.

 

By the way, she did have to use a fountain pen and bears no ill will towards them, though she does remember the mess they could make. Apparently she really liked school and even thought about becoming a nun, lucky for me she chose a different career path!

 

Best,

Rich

I believe, from talking to my parents who attended archdiocesan schools in the 50's and 60's, that Palmer method was the penmanship style taught to students. By the time I was in grade school [1988-1997], it had changed slightly to...I don't know what. It's very similar to Palmer method but the capital "Q's," "T's," "F's" and maybe a few other letters are different. If you have any old Babysitter's Club books lying around that have "examples" of the characters' handwriting styles, I would say my own handwriting was a cross between Mary Anne and Jessi's. By the time I came to school, ballpoints were the order of the day but we couldn't even write with a ballpoint pen until 4th grade [math still had to be done in pencil]. That's about when I first got into fountain pens and would use my cheapo Parker Vector in class. It *usually* didn't present a problem and my friends usually wanted to borrow it [or ask for one for their birthday!]

[paolimd]

Reading this post has brought back such fond memories! I, too, went to Catholic School from Kinder to 12th. It seems we-on this thread-all went through the same experiences. I can't recall when it was we began using FP's, but I can clearly remember that by 7th grade (around 1956) we were using ball points already. I still own a Paper Mate Capri. However, FP's were the mainstay, since BP's weren't so reliable: sometimes, a drop of ink would cause a sticky blob on your paper or, worse, on your shirt.

 

Most of us used Parkers or Sheaffer's FPs, the latter being the ones most used. Esterbrooks were, however, the "student's pen" of those days: they were inexpensive, sturdy, reliable, with an array of interchangeable nibs. They were wonderful gifts for X-Mas, birthdays, graduations, etc.

 

I also recall TV commercials: Parker's T-Jotter was shown "riding" along valleys, mountains, roads, implicating it would write longer than any other, before having to refill. Sheaffers' would show a pair of tweezers applying a White Dot on a pen cap; the overvoice would say something like: "... this is the final step of a jewel that writes; it represents craftsmanship, dependability and our signature of guarantee..."

 

Lastly, I was taught the Palmer Method too. Unfortunately, I developed my own scribble through the years, until about 5 years ago, when I bought a Palmer Method booklet, and have been practicing again since then. Tough on a physician, breaking bad writing habits, to develop new ones afterwards, but worth the effort, not to mention the stress-releiver it is, what with the push-pulls and ovals.

[BoggBlot]

A UK perspective. At my prep school in the 1960s we (or rather, our parents) were encouraged to buy fountain pens or use school-supplied dip pens. The recommended FPs were Osmiroids, where you had the choice of the 65 (lever fill) or 75 (piston fill) models, in a wide range of nib grades, including various obliques and "left hand" nibs. Ink was Parker Washable Blue, and every desk had an inkwell, replenished regularly (but I've no idea how or by whom). Blotting paper was plentiful and pink, and great for soaking with ink and flinging at the ceiling where it stuck quite nicely. Ballpoints were totally forbidden - which in the way of these things made many of us extremely resentful!

 

My maroon Osmiroid 65, fine nib, was a prized possession, but the boy being father of the man, I was soon looking around for alternatives. My all-time favorite was a Sheaffer school pen, black with chrome cap, which started me in a lifelong admiration for their superb nibs.

 

We were all taught Marion Richardson style handwriting, which I think is charmless and clumsy, and have tried to shake off (without much success) to this day.

 

Moving to my senior school, any colour inks were allowed - apart from red for obvious reasons - but ballpoints still frowned upon if not actually forbidden. This was not a Catholic school; in fact it was founded by Dean Colet, Henry VIII's chaplain. And I suppose you don't get much more Protestant than that ...

[httpmom]

I attended Catholic School (Ursuline nun's...the order that the movie 'The Magdalene Sister's was based on...see my review on the IMDB) starting in Kindergarten in 1957.

The only good thing I have to say about it was that I learned a very proper penmanship using The Schaeffer School Pen and they also taught us to write 'Chancery Italic Hand' using a dip pen and India Ink. I became the school calligraphy 'go to kid' as I had the best hand. It enabled me to miss a lot of very boring classes as I would be called upon to draft most of the schools events, invitations, manuscripts, etc.