Description
A quiet, detailed visit to the LOOPS, SWOOPS & CURLICUES exhibit on the history of cursive handwriting at the Toronto Reference Library, the flagship branch of the Toronto Public Library. This spectacular branch is located at Yonge and Bloor Streets in downtown Toronto. The exhibit is FREE and runs until May 10, 2026 in the TD Gallery, just inside the main entrance to the library.
This video was recorded on March 30, 2026.
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"From the TPL website:
https://tpl.ca/programs-and-classes/exhibits/trl-exhibits/
"How well can you read handwritten items? Come test your decoding skills as we explore several hundred years of handwritten words on items from Toronto Public Library’s Special Collections.
The value of cursive writing has become a matter of debate as rapid technological changes make the need to put pen to paper increasingly rare.
One area where the prominence of handwriting is undeniable is in archives of historical papers. This exhibition showcases a variety of formats that researchers make use of such as 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"
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