“To have legible handwriting is the first rule of politeness,” wrote Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky.

Handwriting Day celebrated annually on January 23rd. The holiday was initiated by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers' Association in 1737. It is celebrated on this day in honour of John Hancock¹⁾ birthday, who was the first to sign the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776.

The history of the science studying the handwriting peculiarities began in the 17^th century. The Italian scientist Camillo Baldi²⁾ wrote the first treatise on graphology, which he called “How to recognize by writing the nature and character of the writer”. “. In 1875, the French abbot Jean Hippolyte Michon³⁾ used the term “graphology”, which denotes the field of knowledge about handwriting and methods of its study. Graphology is considered to be one of the most important sciences that help to determine individual characteristics of a person by handwriting. With a high degree of probability it is possible to determine the age of the person, to guess under what circumstances the manuscript was written, to learn about the mood at the time of creation of the text under study. Many factors influence the formation of handwriting: age, level of education, character, type of activity and mood. Just as no two fingerprints are alike, no two handwritings are identical. Even twins have different handwritings.

The pen and ink pen is a thing of the past, we use the fountain pen less and less; letters and handwritten postcards have become a rarity. In our time of digital technologies, communication between people is done online, whether it is texting, e-mail or social networking. The process of displacement of writing by these types of communication is happening quite intensively. Against this background, such a concept as epistolary genre is devalued.

How many interesting stories and facts people would not learn if the correspondence of the past centuries had not been preserved. For example, the epistolary heritage of A.P. Chekhov is a real encyclopaedia of cultural and social life of Russia in the late 19^th – early 20^th centuries.

About 4400 of his letters written during 29 years have been preserved. And how valuable and significant for our compatriots are the letters from the battle fronts of the Great Patriotic War, sometimes written in pencil on scraps of paper. Handwritten letters that made it possible to maintain contacts between people at a distance, to transmit and save information, to exchange news and tell about their feelings.

Letters have always been an important part of people's cultural life, so it is not surprising that this form of communication turned into a separate literary genre. The importance of letters for the nobility and intellectual elite led to the emergence of a peculiar epistolary style.

A letter is the best document, on a par with a diary, in which one can leave a remembrance of himself. Letters also have the advantage of being the most authentic way of conveying the author's “voice” and thoughts that arise in the process of oral speech. Neither correspondence in messengers, nor artistic works, nor journalism, nor even a diary, can convey the natural rhythm of conversation. After all, when writing down speech, a person puts a sentence together in his or her mind even before touching the pen to the paper. Writing by hand requires abstract thinking. To type on a computer, this is not necessary, because a phrase, case or conjunction can be changed at any time. Of course, it is very convenient that technical means provide the convenience of creating texts and a huge speed of information exchange. The problem is that the quality of communication is not always preserved. Scientists believe that the decline of the epistolary genre was influenced not only by the emergence of electronic means of communication, but also by the fact that in our time people have become more individualistic, no longer trust each other, preferring to keep intimate things secret.

Handwritten letters are not only a mirror of human personality, but also a reflection of the character of each nation and its culture. And, finally, handwritten letters and postcards are the repositories of warmth, moods and emotional impulses of the person that wrote them. Undoubtedly, scientific research devoted to handwriting will continue, no matter how the computer base improves.

Museum Collection is hosting the exhibition “Handwriting of Time. Cabinet accessories and postcards of the Silver Age”.

The exhibition is devoted to Russian epistolary culture of the late 19^th – early 20^th centuries. It combines photographic postcards with views of old Moscow and cabinet accessories of this era. In the 1880s, the postal infrastructure in the Russian Empire was rapidly developing, and the art of letter writing was constantly improving. Sending and receiving correspondence, the syntax of business, friendly and personal messages took a certain framework that regulated this everyday communication.

On the cover: Pencil case. C. Faberge firm, the Yu. Rappoport workshop. Russian Empire, St. Petersburg. The last quarter of the 19^th century. Marks: firm – FABERGE, double-headed eagle – the coat of arms of the Russian Empire, the sign of the Imperial Court Supplier; workshop - I.P; doublet of St. Petersburg city assay department: the coat of arms of the city – two crossed anchors and a sceptre, with the figure of assay “88”.

Silver pencil case, cylindrical in shape, with a slot for the pencil lead slider. The surface of the case is decorated with a relief ornament of scrolls, flowers with leaves and stylized shells. The bottom of the case is framed by a fluted, acanthus-leafed welt framing the lower part of the case. The case decoration is made in the Rococo Revival style.

The item is presented at the exhibition “Handwriting of the Time. Cabinet accessories and postcards”.

The privilege of all repositories of historical and cultural monuments, including the museum Collection, is the opportunity to learn and demonstrate various aspects of history and people's lives. The manuscript heritage of our ancestors will always be significant both for researchers and for all of us - not indifferent and curious viewers.

Traditionally, museum Collection has prepared a sightseeing program as part of the exhibition. Museum guests will be able to see both the thematic exposition, located on the minus first floor, and a part of the permanent exposition, located on the third floor.
You can sign up for an excursion on the museum website in the “Contacts” section.

¹⁾ John Hancock (1737–1793) was an American political leader and supporter of the American Revolution. Hancock served as president of the Second Continental Congress and became the first governor of Massachusetts. In American culture, he gained great fame for his especially large signature under the Declaration of Independence of the United States.

²⁾ Camillo Baldi (1550–1637) was an Italian philosopher.

³⁾ Jean Hippolyte Michon (1806–1881), Catholic priest, teacher, preacher, archaeologist, writer, undisputed father of graphology.