Old German Script - Kurrent

Commonly known as Old German Script, Kurrent is the most popular handwriting style found in handwritten German documents from the 16th through 18th centuries.

The Alte Deutsche Schrift (German for "old German script") known as Kurrent originally evolved from the gothic cursive handwriting of the 16th century. The uniform, legible handwriting style was quickly adopted by many chancelleries, and soon came into widespread use as everyday handwriting throughout Germany. This example was created with the Kurrent Kupferstich font from the Walden Font Co. Kurrent Kupferstich is a calligraphic version of Old German Script. It was the most commonly used script for handwritten documents in Germany.

Stterlin
Stterlin is the German handwriting commonly taught to German schoolchildren from about 1915 to 1941.

2 of 4
Previous Next

Ad
Pflege der 3. Zhne3. Zhne Produkte von blend-a-dent. Mit mehr Biss durchs Leben! www.blend-a-dent.de Stterlin script (Stterlinschrift) is a more modern version of Kurrent, created by graphic artist Ludwig Stterlin to further standardize the fancy old script, and make it easier to write. This German handwriting style is still used by some of the older generation. This example was created with the Suetterlin font from the Walden Font Co., part of the Gutenberg Press collection.

Fraktur
The German word fraktur refers to a group of blackletter typefaces. Many German documents from the 16th to 20th centuries were printed in a fraktur font.

3 of 4
Previous Next

Secretary Hand
Secretary hand is a common form of handwritten script that developed during the early sixteenth century, and was in common use during the seventeenth century.

4 of 4
Previous Next

Ad
Genealogy Surname SearchDiscover Your Roots and Become Part of World's Online Family Tree.www.GeneBase.com Secretary hand developed during the early sixteenth century as a easily legible style of handwriting for court and other government business. It derived from the Book Hand of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as well as the Court Hand used for government and legal documents, and was quickly adopted for business, government, church and personal use. Secretary hand is commonly found when reading old wills, probate records, and even parish records, from England, Scotland and other European countries during the 16th and early 17th centuries. One of the best ways to identify secretary hand is to look for letters which tend to significantly differ from their modern equivalents: e, c, t, r, s, h and k.