'Henry Louis Gehrig' Autograph

[bjcunningham]

Gehrig joined the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity (NY Delta Chapter) at Columbia University as a young engineering student. His mother had been a house mom there for a number of years and his dad was an occasional handyman for the chapter. We see a lot of bad autographs on this board, so I wanted to show the one from when he signed the 'Bond of Phi Delta Theta' shortly after his initiation. (The Bond is certainly the most secretive book in the fraternity; only available to initiated members. Each chapter is given a handwritten copy.) The original book is housed at Phi Delta Theta's General Headquarters in Oxford, OH. This picture is of the roll call at the end of the book that is on display there. It is a photocopy, if I remember correctly.

[RichardSimon]

That is one neat piece. Thanks for posting that.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

That is one neat piece. Thanks for posting that.

I agree. One neat piece.

[sycks22]

It always amazes me how well people wrote back in the day before all the short hand and computers. It's crazy to think people actually wrote letters to people and mailed them.

[David Atkatz]

It has nothing to do with shorthand and computers. It has all to do with schools no longer requiring that kids learn to write.

This, BTW, was how Gehrig wrote when he was fourteen years old:

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

It has nothing to do with shorthand and computers. It has all to do with schools no longer requiring that kids learn to write.

I showed what I thought was a well-written Cobb letter to a young friend of mine, and he could not read it - told me that he was not required in school to learn to read or write that sort of writing. He's around 27 and literally a genius.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

It has nothing to do with shorthand and computers. It has all to do with schools no longer requiring that kids learn to write.

This, BTW, was how Gehrig wrote when he was fourteen years old:

David,
That's a spectacular Gehrig piece!
Do you own it in your personal collection?
Thanks!

[CW]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

It has nothing to do with shorthand and computers. It has all to do with schools no longer requiring that kids learn to write.

This, BTW, was how Gehrig wrote when he was fourteen years old:

First off, that's a beautiful piece!

Secondly, computers, keyboards, and smartphones are a major factor in the death of cursive writing. Coincidentally, my older sister wrote an article about it for a local magazine. Not trying to start a debate on this, as I could probably care less, but the effect of computers on our youth's handwriting skills (or lack thereof) is quite obvious.