{"id":7901,"date":"2018-03-22T07:22:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T11:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/?p=7901"},"modified":"2018-03-21T09:29:50","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T13:29:50","slug":"short-hand-mysteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2018\/03\/22\/short-hand-mysteries\/","title":{"rendered":"Short hand mysteries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The recipe pictured is one from my mother’s recipe box. I have long suspected that it was a recipe for fried green tomatoes that I asked her to write down from a news broadcast one day when we living with my grandmother. She joyfully delivered the recipe to me in shorthand, something I could not read, and refused to translate it. As mean as the interlude sounds, my mother was a wonderful woman, promise. And, though I suspect tomatoes, I’ve really always hoped the recipe was for her fruitcake, since I have yet found no trace of her fruitcake anywhere in her cook books or recipe box.<\/p>\n

At some point in my youth I was actually inspired to study shorthand. I am not sure whether it was before or after the tomatoes. I got significantly less far along with it than I did with my short bout of speed reading practice. So the recipe above is still a mystery. I believe it is Gregg shorthand, the U.S. standard at the time my mother would’ve learned, and I have since found a fabulous site dedicated to keeping Greg shorthand alive: Gregg Shorthand site<\/a>. It includes a Greg Shorthand Dictionary<\/a> that may help me figure out the recipe above. I’ve also found a translation engine that can translate your text into shorthand<\/a>. Unfortunately it doesn’t work the other way around.<\/p>\n

What I had no concept of when I started investigating a means to translate the recipe is the great history of shorthand and the many ways it has been used. On Tracey Jennings Harding transcription service web site<\/a>, Harding frequently shares stories of postcards, letters, and other interesting historical ephemera that she’s been hired to translate by people who, like me, can’t read the strange code their predecessors used to record their lives. Harding doesn’t work with Gregg shorthand, as she is fluent in the U.K. standard shorthand style: Pitman, which preceded Gregg in popularity for the English speaking world.<\/p>\n

In case you want to follow me along in an exploration of the wartime letters, fan mail, and diaries that have been written in shorthand throughout history, here are some starting points:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Leah Price’s essay on shorthand<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. “Personal Tech for the 17th Century” at The Atlantic<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Shorthand via Wikipedia<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Encyclopedia Brittannica <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The recipe pictured is one from my mother’s recipe box. I have long suspected that it was a recipe for fried green tomatoes that I asked her to write down from a news broadcast one day when we living with my grandmother. She joyfully delivered the recipe to me in shorthand, something I could not… Continue reading Short hand mysteries<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[160],"class_list":["post-7901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-language"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9300,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2020\/11\/21\/a-growing-obsession\/","url_meta":{"origin":7901,"position":0},"title":"A growing obsession","author":"leems","date":"November 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I may have told a fair few people already, but I have a growing obsession with fruit cake. It all started when I went looking for my mother's recipe for fruit cake and did not find anything that sounded right in all of the papers she left me. So, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1940sbraerrabbitmodernrecipes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1940sbraerrabbitmodernrecipes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1940sbraerrabbitmodernrecipes.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1940sbraerrabbitmodernrecipes.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1940sbraerrabbitmodernrecipes.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/1940sbraerrabbitmodernrecipes.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10408,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2022\/11\/07\/barmbrack\/","url_meta":{"origin":7901,"position":1},"title":"Barmbrack","author":"leems","date":"November 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello! I hope y'all's Halloween was as lovely as mine! As the first of the feasting holidays (in my house), I busied myself making seasonally appropriate meals with in-season foods and baking. One of the bakes I have been slowly perfecting for myself is barmbrack. The recipe I have is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10436,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2022\/12\/06\/fruitcake-murder-poison-theft\/","url_meta":{"origin":7901,"position":2},"title":"Fruitcake: murder, poison, theft","author":"leems","date":"December 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I have an unfinished project tracking fruitcake recipes through newspaper clippings that calls to me. To get me in the mood to revisit it, and to get you in the mood for the holidays, here are some choice clippings of the theft, poison, and murder with which fruitcake has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sn87062237-1922-01-09-1-1-image-681x648-from-28x1042-to-2416x3317-1-61x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sn87062237-1922-01-09-1-1-image-681x648-from-28x1042-to-2416x3317-1-61x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sn87062237-1922-01-09-1-1-image-681x648-from-28x1042-to-2416x3317-1-61x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sn87062237-1922-01-09-1-1-image-681x648-from-28x1042-to-2416x3317-1-61x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10465,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2023\/03\/14\/vintage-recipe-books-and-pamphlets-collections\/","url_meta":{"origin":7901,"position":3},"title":"Vintage Recipe books and pamphlets collections","author":"leems","date":"March 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I might be running out of room in the modest space I have allotted myself for my vintage recipe pamphlets. I find it fascinating how the culmination of industrialization, new kitchen appliances, changing class structure, war, depression, and post war boom meant that EVERYONE - including electric companies, food suppliers,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11072,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2025\/04\/01\/from-the-recipe-books\/","url_meta":{"origin":7901,"position":4},"title":"From the recipe books","author":"leems","date":"April 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"My collection of old recipe books has grown to include a number of community cookbooks circa 1940s-80s from the mid-west, some courtesy of family who all came from Ohio and Pennsylvania. Community cookbooks are a snapshot of interesting and sometimes unappetizing dishes. They were also compiled and consumed mostly by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250321_204133.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250321_204133.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250321_204133.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250321_204133.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250321_204133.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250321_204133.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5171,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2014\/06\/12\/recipe-more-things-on-toast\/","url_meta":{"origin":7901,"position":5},"title":"Recipe – more things on toast","author":"leems","date":"June 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I mentioned before about making things on toast for dinner.\u00a0 The distraction of looking for a house meant I only made two such meals before the mold came.\u00a0 Obviously, it's been a while since that happened; I've been keeping this post in my drafts while buying, packing and moving.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"eggtomatopoach","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/eggtomatopoach-600x449.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/eggtomatopoach-600x449.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/eggtomatopoach-600x449.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7901"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7933,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901\/revisions\/7933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}