Toronto/CMEDIA: TD Gallery is the main exhibit space at Toronto Public Library, where multiple free exhibitions are curated each year, showcasing our Special Collections and beyond.
An exhibitio ‘Loops, Swoops & Curlicues: A Legacy of Handwritten History’ traces a legacy of Handwritten History.
The exhibition explores several hundred years of handwritten words on items from Toronto Public Library’s Special Collections.
Value of cursive writing
Rapid technological changes has made the need to put pen to paper increasingly rare and debates the value of cursive writing.
Archives of historical papers is the area where the prominence of handwriting is undeniable.
Showcaing a variety of formats that researchers use, this exhibition uses personal letters, diaries, and notebooks as well as public documents, business records and hand-drawn maps.
Highlights include:
- TPL’s oldest item, a cuneiform tablet from around 2000 BCE
- Handwritten pieces by authors Ray Bradbury and Arthur Conan Doyle
- Petition for the first public libraries in Toronto
- Example of a 19th-century cross-written letter (featuring two sets of overlapping lines of text to save paper)
- Display case of materials by Anderson Ruffin Abbott, one of the first Canadian-born doctors of African descent
- Travel writing desk and writing tools belonging to Robert Baldwin, co-leader of Canada’s first responsible government
- Early handwritting learning materials for children
- Chinese calligraphy from our Chinese Canadian Archive
- Illuminated manuscript from 1400s
- Sūratu al Wāqi ʻa, of the Quran, approximately 1650
- A chance to try your hand at cursive script
