There are two "schools" of calligraphy in America. Often it is thought of as broad-edge verses pointed pen. But, I tend to think of it as the Johnstonian vs the Engrossers.

Edward Johnston is famous for "rediscovering" medieval writing and its craft. He was part of the larger Arts and Crafts movement in England of the Victorian era. His famous book Writing, Illuminating, & Lettering was published in 1906. In it he talks about quill cutting, gilding, and manuscript studies. His major achievement was looking at a protogothic (post-Carolingian) manuscript and developing his foundational style of writing.

The "students" of this school, yes, tend to work with broadedge pens, but their most defining feature is they look at lettering of the Renaissance or before and develop them into revival hands. Catich was famous for this method in The Origin of the Serif.

Lloyd Reynolds was also as he championed his italic handwriting revival at Reed College. Most of the guilds on the west coast have strong connections to Reed College—and while it is not the only reason (this could be a full discussion in itself), it is a major contributor to the fact that most of the west coast guilds are very broadedge centric.

The second school is championed IAMPETH today. It is an unbroken (except by a boat ride across the Atlantic) chain of lettering artists from the Renaissance forward. With the invention of printing, scribes became writing masters and secretaries. As printing methods developed, they became penmen and engrossers.

Because IAMPETH was started by alumni of the Zanerian College of Ohio, the traced history is focused on Ohio and New York. I first became interested in discovering what might have been happening in San Francisco, when I noticed a San Francisco return address for Louis Madarasz. Looking into it further, Madarasz retired in the bay area. But I didn't really have a place to start other than that. By nature of their work, engrossers often don't get credit for their work. So while you might see beautiful resolutions and certificates for local companies, the artist is rarely traceable.

Recently, I visited the Green Library at Stanford University. They showed me their Land Grant certificate, and it's actually signed by the engrosser: Carl Eisenschimel. A quick web search of Eisenschimel turned up a few other certificates he had done & an obituary. He seemed to do a fair amount of engrossing, but made most of his money as a handwriting expert for the police.

Finding out about Eisenschimel seemed to unlock a sense of research into this. Searching the Western Penman Journals archived at the University of Scranton Archive for San Francisco, not only turned up Madarasz's name, but also recurring instances of Heald's Business College and San Francisco Business College (where it seems Madarasz worked).

Daniel T. Ames also retired to the bay area. He was connected at one point with Heald's, but also tried to start his own business college in Mountain View right before the 1906 earthquake. He ended up losing most of his savings because of the earthquake, and because he was not in the city was not able to get much in the way of donated funds. You can read more about his after-earthquake experience in the Business Educator. Ames died in 1909 and is buried in Palo Alto — see his Find a Grave memorial.

This post is getting long, so for now, I will just list names that have come up in my research of bay area penmen, engrossers, and handwriting experts. Some of them will get their own posts in the future as I get more information.

Bay Area Penmen, Engrossers & Handwriting Experts

• Daniel T. Ames, died in Palo Alto 1909

  

• Chas A. Babcox

• Willis A. Baird, born in Santa Cruz, and worked in San Francisco in 1919

• George H. Baker

• William H. Beacom

• Bosqui Engrossing & Printing Co.

• A. B. Capp, Business Educator called him, "Best known penman…on Pacific Coast."

  

• F. E. Cook

• James F. Cozart, in 1890 Penman's Art Journal called him "one of the most graceful young writers in the country."

• Andrew N. Daniels, Penman & Engrosser

• Carl Eisenschimel, handwriting expert

  

• Louis Ehrenfeld

• P. A. Espina

• Louise E. Freese

• Lambert Halman

• Edward P. Heald, president of Heald's Business College

• J. W. Griffith

• A. R. Kipp

• Theodore Kytka, handwriting expert & photographer who documented the 1906 earthquake

  

• Henry M. Little

• C. J. Lysing

• Louis Madarasz, died in San Francisco 1910

• A. A. Moran

• Virginia Patchett, wrote Compendium of Business Correspondence

• Peter Purcell

• E. F. Quintal

• C. S. Rogers

• J. R. Ruckstell, Penman & Expert Accountant

• W H Rousseau

• Fielding Schofield

• F. Serengi

• G. H. Stipp

• Samuel Thors, engrosser & fancy card writer, who won the lottery in 1893

• A. S. Weaver, president of San Francisco Business College & recipient of Madarasz's last piece of writing.

• Edward Welby

• Fred O. Young, left handed, wrote letter to Madarasz

  

I will update this list periodically. If you have any information about these penmen, or know of work done by them, please reach out!