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I remember once hearing that Woodrow Wilson, the 28th American President, was shorthand proficient. What I did not realise, however, was the extent to which his pen skills were absorbed into his professional life. Quite by chance I recently came across a newspaper cutting from the St Joseph New-Press which revealed how for the first time in history a treaty had been signed with a seal in shorthand. This, I learned, was not just any treaty either, but the Treaty whof Paris which marked the end of the First World War.

This fascinating article told how Woodrow Wilson’s seal ring carried his name in shorthand and how this would be used to stamp the American leader’s name onto the treaty document.

Here’s the article:

Shorthand news story about Woodrow Wilson

There are a great many sources of excellent information about Wilson out there. I understand he used a form of shorthand called Graham, which was derived from Pitman and now virtually extinct.