Western's Heritage of Penmanship

Lynn E. Niedermeier, Western Kentucky University

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Originally published in echo (www.wku.edu/echo), August 2002. Reprinted by permission.

Abstract

Until relatively recently, instruction in penmanship was an important part of the curriculum in schools and colleges. At the Southern Normal School, the Bowling Green Business University and the Western Kentucky State Normal School (predecessors of Western Kentucky University), students were trained in the latest handwriting techniques as they copied out sayings and aphorisms which inculcated the values of hard work and good character. Western’s first president, Henry Hardin Cherry, was an accomplished penman.