Color Our Collections: Penmanship

The library, archives, and museum world is abuzz this week with #ColorOurCollections, a weeklong cultural heritage coloring fest dreamed up by the New York Academy of Medicine and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

As coloring fans ourselves, we couldn’t help but toss our hat into the ring. Earlier this week, we shared a University Archives coloring book and a Local History coloring book, but we’ve saved the best for last. Today’s coloring book features some gorgeous penmanship from the Zaner-Bloser, Inc. / Sonya Bloser Monroe Collection and the Horace G. Healey Collection, both preserved in our Helen Gallagher McHugh Special Collections. Featured at the end are works by Scranton’s own master penman P. W. Costello.

colorourcollections-penmanship-final

Penmanship Coloring Book (PDF)

The pages in the book were created using images from the Library’s digital collections, which were digitized from original artwork, publications, and albums.

Please note: We’ve edited the images to increase their “colorability.” In many cases, this process obscured some of the incredible detail and shading in the original work. We encourage you to explore the master scans (and the many, many other items in our collections!) at www.scranton.edu/library/zanerbloser.

We hope you enjoy our book, and we can’t wait to see what colors you bring to our collections!

Gifts for Archivists: Zaner-Bloser Moleskine Notebooks

Many thanks to ArchiveGrid Blog for including our custom-printed Zaner-Bloser Moleskine Notebooks on their list of “24 Fun and Practical Gifts for Archivists”! We’re proud to share a blog post with these nifty Oinx microfiche necklaces and Green Market’s “The Archivist” scented candles.

As always, all proceeds from notebook sales benefit the preservation and digitization of our Zaner-Bloser Penmanship Collection.

Exhibit of ABC’s: Alphabets from the Zaner-Bloser Collection

The Heritage Room is currently featuring an eye-catching exhibit of Alphabets from the Zaner-Bloser Collection.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zaner-Bloser was a leader in penmanship and calligraphy instruction.  The Company produced manuals providing examples of elaborate Roman, Medieval, Decorative, and Shaded or Spencerian alphabets.  The Company also retained the original large format penwork for the manuals and the exhibit will present approximately 70 examples of this original pen artwork.  The exhibit will emphasize the work done by Charles Paxton Zaner (The Zanerian Manual of Alphabets), Daniel Ames (Ames Compendium of Practical and Ornamental Penmanship), Henry Flickinger (Practical Alphabets), and S.C. Malone along with other scribes.

For a sample of some of the alphabets found in our exhibit, please check out our Pinterest Board of Zaner-Bloser Alphabets.

The exhibit opened January 30 and will run through April 5, during normal Library hours.

Please contact Michael Knies Michael.Knies@Scranton.edu 570-941-6341 for more information.

Happy Holidays…Zaner-Bloser Style!

New Year’s flourish, dated 1896, by C. F. Johnston.

It’s December 1st, temperatures are dropping, and the holiday season is in full swing!  Take a (brief) break from working on those final projects and browse a few images of festive holiday themed penmanship from our Zaner-Bloser Penmanship Collection.