1. History of Handwriting Analysis
- Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle noticed the correlation between handwriting and personality. The Chinese were also independently making observations that there was a connection between character and writing.
- 1622
Italian physician and professor of philosophy at the University of Bologna published a book describing the analysis of character through the study of handwriting.
- Late 1800’s
Abbe Michon, who was the headmaster of a school in Paris and a respected intellectual, wrote several books on the subject. He coined the name "graphology.” His successor, Crepieux Jamin, later classified the many features of graphology into a comprehensive system.
- 1890’s
In Germany, Dr Ludwig Klages, a philosopher and graphologist, applied gestalt theory to graphology. This advanced his theories of rhythm and "form level" and gratly expanded the scope of graphology.
- 1920’s
After World War I, interest in graphology continued to spread in Europe. In Germany, Ludwig Klages published his finding in Zeitschrift fur Menschenkunde (Journal for the Study of Mankind).
- 1929
Milton Bunker founded The American Grapho Analysis Society teaching Graphoanalysis.
- 1942
Thea Stein Lewinson and J. Zubin altered Klage's ideas, based on their experience working for the U.S. Government and published their methods.
- 1972
Discussions between the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation and the American Association of Handwriting Analysis started, with the goal to form a single organization.
- 1976
These discussions resulted in the creation of the Council of Graphological Societies.
http://www.edinformatics.com/forensic/handwriting_analysis.htm
2. 12 Handwriting Characteristics
1. Line Quality –are letters erratic or shaky
2. Word and Letter Spacing – spaced or crowded
3. Size consistency – compares ratio of height to width
4. Continuous - pen lifts or continuous writing
5. Connecting letters – are capitals and lower-case letters connected and continuous
6. Letters complete – are letters fully written or partially
7. Cursive/Printed – cursive printed or both (when)
8. Pen Pressure – equal ^ and V strokes
9. Slant – left, right, variable, no slant?
10. Line Habits – above line, below line, on line?
11. Flourishes or Embellishments – fancy curls?
12. Diacritic Placement – correct, misplaced, t’s crossed towards top/bottom, i’s dotted? Dotted to the right/left/centered?
3. Handwriting Analysis Template Activity Analysis
In class, we did an activity which involved each person creating a writing template for themselves. The skeleton of the template was provided for us and we were to fill out the rest. In the first section each person wrote the phrase “the quick, brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” in print and cursive because this phrase has every letter in the alphabet. Then under that the individual would analyze their handwriting with the twelve handwriting characteristics. In the next section each person was supposed to switch their templates with somebody else to try and forge their handwriting (print and cursive) free handed. Finally, in the third section, the templates were switched again to a different individual and they were to forge the phrase, in print and cursive, by tracing. It was rather easy to tell the difference between the forged phrases (free handed and traced) and the original phrases because the letters were shaped differently and the unique qualities of the original handwriting are lost in the forgeries due to the other person’s handwriting. Tracing definitely looks more authentic and is easier than free handing because it can mimic the shapes of the letters of the original and all the forger has to do is follow the lines. Free handing, however, takes a steadier hand and more concentration on the forger’s part.
4. Check Forgery Activity Reflection
In class, we did an activity which involved groups of three or four forging checks. Each person in a group would write a check and sign a false name. Everybody would then rip apart and crumple up the pieces of the check and switch all the checks from their group (with their writing template) with another group. My group was able to identify the proper people who did the forgeries because one of forgers (LaTaysha Stokes) had handwriting almost like calligraphy. We were able to identify the difference between the other two because one of the checks had rounder letters which matched up with Audrey Brown’s handwriting.
5. Famous Forgery Case
In 1989, Dorothy Sloan opened a package mailed to her which contained one of the original copies, made in 1836, of the Texas Declaration of Independence. A collector who has never found an artifact as great as this in her professional career offered Sloan $21,500 for the declaration. Instead of feeling excitement, Sloan felt that there was something strange about the document in her possession. Sloan then called her friend Bill Holman, a librarian and master printer, and the two of them went to the Barker Texas History Center at the University of Texas, where there was another copy of the declaration. At first glance the two documents looked the same but when they looked closer the print on their document was thinner than the one on the libraries copy. Lead type, the only kind of typed print in Texas in 1836, does not change width. They thus concluded that the document in their possession was made at a different time after 1836, making in a forgery.
http://www.gregorycurtis.com/greg-art2.htm
