When I saw that National Handwriting Day was coming up, I decided to consult with the Law Library’s Rare Book Curator, Nathan Dorn. This felt like a great opportunity to highlight an item from our Rare Book Collection featuring handwritten script. With over 25,000 volumes of books and bound manuscripts, the Law Library’s collection of rare books consists of both major Anglo-American materials and foreign legal collections. For this occasion, Nathan selected American materials from the Law Library’s collection for me to photograph.
Since January 23rd was chosen for National Handwriting Day to mark the birthday of John Hancock, I thought it would be fitting to feature a manuscript that shows the handwriting of another signer of the Declaration of Independence—John Adams. Before John Adams assisted in drafting the Declaration, he was a notable lawyer. The item highlighted in today’s post is a legal document that was completed in the hand of John Adams.
