The Letters

I would like to know what the letters say.

It seems like the letters would answer some obvious questions--or at least, give clues. Indeed, the card catalog entry* dubs them "letters of explanation." But alas, they would surely raise more questions.

There are three--letters, that is--one in shorthand, two typed, all housed in the box with the spirals. They are each in their own envelope, and each envelope is addressed to Louis A. Leslie. The postmarks are: Dec 31 1965, Jan 12 1966, and Feb 4 1966--thirty years after the completion of the shorthand texts. Each is signed by Augusta Davis Crawley--(the middle name, Davis, being left off of the last signature). She is also known as Mrs. Mansfield C. Crawley.

Did Gregg Publishing commission this work, or was Mr. Crawley personally motivated to take it on? Did Crawley wish his work to be published, or was Gregg unaware, disinterested, or was the project considered not to be cost effective? Was Crawley holding out for some reason?

*Card Catalog link

What this Blog is About

I have recently become aware that there is an expertly handwritten edition of the Holy Bible being kept in a box in a corner of a shelf in a special library in New Jersey, and at this time it may only be viewed in person and by appointment. As one might expect from the name of this blog, these "special edition" scriptures to which I refer are written entirely in Gregg Shorthand. The purpose of this blog is to effect the release of these Writings out from  under this "bushel" which they have been placed under so that they may be set on a hill in order to shed their light on the community for which they were intended: Those who know and/or are learning/studying Gregg Shorthand.

During the years 1934 through 1936 this project was undertaken and completed in California by Mansfield Crawley. He filled the pages of twelve 100-page steno pads with shorthand outlines for the words and phrases of the Old and New Testaments writing in the same style of shorthand found in the 1929 Anniversary edition of the Gregg Shorthand manual. Although Gregg Shorthand has undergone revisions before and since this edition, it is nevertheless readily accessible by anyone familiar with any edition of the "light-line" phonography (as it was originally called when first published in 1888).