Read Cursive? It's Now Considered a Superpower

[Solstice]

The National Archives is seeking volunteers who can read cursive to help transcribe more than 300 million digitized objects in its catalog, saying the skill is a “superpower.” The records range from Revolutionary War pension records to the 1950 Census.

Most American schools no longer teach the handwriting form, instead focusing on keyboard skills. Currently, 24 states still require cursive to be taught—but that alone may not help with the National Archives task at hand. “It’s not just a matter of whether you learned cursive in school, it’s how much you use cursive today,” Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the National Archives Catalog in Washington, DC. The organization has registered over 5,000 citizen archivists but could still use more help.

“There’s no application,” Isaacs said. “You just pick a record that hasn’t been done and read the instructions. It’s easy to do for a half-hour a day or a week.”

[Reapward]

I saw it somewhere too and almost considered it. Just last night I was reading through some old letters from relatives corresponding from the late 1800's to early 1900's. I could read them even with all the fancy type lettering.
Are we a superpower or becoming obsolete? Ha.

[farm108]

My friend calls cursive the "old folks secret code" writing.

[biglakejudy]

I had a guy I was giving a ride the other day exclaim...you can drive a stick shift?

[connieburke]

They must be teaching it at school because my MVE third-grade granddaughter surprised me by reading my messy cursive note the other day. She also writes her name in it—so fancy. :)