Handwriting and cultural asset
Handwriting and Science
HANDWRITINGBIBLIO — THE UNIQUEST SELECTION OF PUBLIC ATIONS ON „HANDWRITING“ HandWritingBiblio is both a physical and a virtual project for the storage, preservation and sharing of all aspects of handwriting. The idea for the "Memory of Handwriting" project arose from the fact that in recent years the founders were repeatedly given collections in the form of old journals, books and documents on the subject of handwriting by strangers and colleagues as well as their descendants. The founders themselves also have a certain collector's passion. These artefacts, some of which date back to the beginnings of the 20th century, and the handwriting knowledge collected in them were stored in various places comparable to ‘time capsules’. The aim is to make this handwriting knowledge available to present and future generations in order to safeguard this knowledge. The contents range from the learning and teaching of writing through grapho-motor and therapeutic aspects of writing, to findings in forensic analysis or psychological interpretation of writing, to name but a few essential topics. Time capsules have been used for millennia to preserve a piece of the present for the future. Although time capsules are generally regarded as a box of buried treasures, there are many different forms and, above all, intentions with which they are created. For example, time capsules created intentionally or unintentionally, and time capsules with or without a defined opening date. The word ‘time capsule’ was first used in 1937, when a capsule was intentionally prepared for the 1939 New York World's Fair. A shiny, metallic, rocket-shaped time capsule was sunk 18 metres deep into the ground of Flushing Meadows Park. It contains articles of daily use, fabrics and materials, artefacts of literature and art, microfilms with news and scientific findings. It is to be opened exactly in 5,000 years. However, the concept of time capsules does not date back to the 1930s, it is much older. The Gilgamesh Epic is considered the earliest literary work of mankind. The book begins with instructions on how to find a copper box in the cornerstone of the great walls of Uruk. The box contained the stories of the legendary King of Gilgamesh. So the idea of leaving a message for the future in the form of a time capsule is more than 5,000 years old. As for the time capsule HandWritingBiblio - the unique selection of publications on handwriting - the time has now come to open it. Documents, books and records on this subject, and as well handwritings themselves, that were kept under lock and key at various locations, have been transferred to a central location in Munich (Germany), and the project HandWritingBiblio has been launched. The capsules will be opened step by step, content is sorted, recorded electronically, including the corresponding keywords (tagging), and in this way, an academic library will be build up. Since new documents and artefacts are continuously transferred to the HandWritingBiblio, the library is dynamic and can be visited online at any time. And here comes the good news for all virtual library visi3