The Acquisitions Table: Copy Book of A.D. Arms

Arms, A.D. Copy Book, 1870-1877 (with stylus and carbon papers).
A new addition to the Society’s Penmanship Collection is this copy book, with stylus and copy paper still intact. The copied letters are all signed by an A.D. Arms, and most are written to recipients in Montpelier, so he was likely from the town, or close by. Although the book has only a few copied letters, they are entertaining and provide a glimpse into his daily life. Arms’s outgoing correspondence includes letters concerning a sheep dilemma (he does not think the sheep he received were the ones described by the seller), a trial of a new mowing machine, and inquiries about an artificial ear drum. Because Arms’s outgoing correspondence is all together in this copy book, (a rarity, since correspondence is typically scattered among its recipients), we get a fairly good picture of this individual who was clearly also interested in copybook technology.