The Palimpsest

Belding, Robert E

THE
PEN M A N
BUILDS AN EMPIRE
by R obert E . B e ld in g
For generations the Palmer Method of 
penmanship challenged the skill and 
patience of students in American grammar 
schools and business colleges. But Austin 
Norman Palmer devised his
method u legible, rapid, easy, and
enduring”—as a modern alternative to the 
drudgery of traditional copy-book 
instruction. In the process, the Cedar 
Rapids educator earned a million dollars.
T he Palimpsest 139
On the foundation of his innovative pen­manship techniques, known as the 
Palmer Method, Austin Norman Palmer suc­
ceeded in building a nationally acclaimed chain 
of three business colleges based in Cedar 
Rapids, Iowa. All of Palmer’s highly touted and 
lucrative educational techniques—and all of his 
many products—grew out of a distinctive, 
handsome, and relaxed method of inscription 
that Palmer developed himself while still in his 
teens. Ultimately, Palmer owned, ran, and 
taught in three business schools, administered 
numerous correspondence courses and sum­
mer sessions, and established a bookstore that 
specialized in his Palmer-method pens, 
papers, and textbooks. His own publishing 
company held sole rights to Palmer s Guide to 
Muscular Movement Writing, which went 
through so many editions and was disseminat­
ed so widely that publishing firms bearing his 
name were established on the Pacific Coast and 
in New York City. The production of Palmer s 
handsomely ornamented penmanship diploma 
became almost a success unto itself, for he 
charged a special fee for the hand-decorated 
certificate.
I he agonies and rewards of learning the 
Palmer Method are vividly recalled by ex­
pupils throughout the country. Fat ovals and
gently leaning push-pulls were repeated by the 
clock or calendar as scholars rotated their arms 
in a circular motion which, some declared, 
wore raw the muscles below the elbow.
Through it all, Palmer or his specially trained 
tutors soothed possible qualms by proclaiming 
that his free-flowing style, using the prescribed 
arm muscles, would never tire the hand. 
Palmer invented his unusual system in the 
early 1880s; it was nationally known and 
adopted by the turn of the century and proved 
highly contagious in public and in Roman 
( atholic schools across the nation in the decade 
from 1915 to 1925.
© Iowa State Historical Department/Division of the State His­
torical Society 1980 0031—0036 0910—0138 $1.00
The Catholic parochial schools, almost as an 
entity, adopted tlu* Palmer Method of pen­
manship earlier than did most tax-supported 
systems and then retained it longer. Palmer 
travelled extensively, helping the teaching sis­
ters to guide their young charges’ hands into 
muscle-supported scrolls and swoops. One 
middle-aged woman recalls, "How many thou­
sand times did I write This is a specimen of my 
handwriting’ before the sisters decided it was 
good enough to submit for a flowered certifi­
cate from Professor Palmer!
Teachers conscientiously patrolled class­
room aisles checking how the Palmer- 
produced pen was held, how Palmer’s paper 
was levelled on the school desk, and even how 
the child was sitting—bent on combining cir­
cles with slanted strokes. The exercise was 
punctuated with staccato commands to "use 
your arm!” Nor could the teacher herself, who 
had inevitably been through Palmer’s own in­
scriptions course, feel comfortable or even de­
cently garbed without a framed certificate on 
the classroom wall and a current subscription to 
Palmer’s American Penmanship on her desk.
Far from being only a slick entrepreneur out to cull as many fast bucks as there 
were suckers, Palmer was a man of integrity 
who taught more than a penmanship method at 
his Cedar Rapids school. He worked countless 
hours to develop his academy and its well- 
deserved reputation for producing versatile of­
fice workers, whose tailored combinations of 
study prepared them for immediate employ­
ment.
Like almost every teacher of business in the 
state, Palmer had come from the East. He was 
born in 1857 in New York State and studied in 
the local schools a system of Spencerian hand­
writing characterized by a slanting style. Even 
while learning this he declared that it was wear­
ing out his hand under a tiring method of in­
scription. With his writing hand still in that
140 T he Palimpsest
The Palmer-method alphabet (SHS1)
debilitated condition, he drifted into Cedar 
Rapids at the age of thirteen and became an 
insurance policy writer, using his free-flowing 
pen to inscribe and illuminate each policy. In 
1884 he started teaching in the local business 
college which he was shortly to purchase. Al­
though his downtown school experienced the 
same uncertain days ol early development 
which characterized so many ol Iowa’s private 
schools, by 1892 Palmer had built up his in­
stitution into such an excellent one that lie was 
able to form a company and purchase a business 
“university in Saint Joseph, Missouri. With the 
other hand he tucked the Creston (Iowa) Busi­
ness College under his corporate wing. Until 
his death in 1927, he remained principal owner 
ol this three-campused corporation, which he 
called the Cedar Rapids Business College 
Company. He was most unusual in that he 
remained active in academic teaching and ad­
ministration for a period of 43 years. Because of 
his many related involvements—especially in 
the area ol business education—Palmer be­
came not only the country’s best known 
academy educator, but also its most successful. 
In 1927 he was buried in Cedar Rapids, leaving 
an estate of well over one million dollars.
Thanks to his school’s thorough tutelage, 
stenographers were also taught to compose and 
type good business letters before leaving the 
school with diploma in hand. Palmer was aware
that few clerical jobs were so narrow as to 
require only a single set ol skills, so his steno­
graphers, in particular, became invaluable be­
cause they also learned to keep office accounts, 
fhe combination typist and shorthander was 
especially attractive to employers. In addition, 
it was never assumed that those entering his 
portals were already competent in basic Eng- 
lish skills. Professor Palmer, knowing some had 
been through spelling and grammar without 
motivation, required that those who needed it 
should undergo the Common English Course 
in his school. Such an essentials course not only 
proved valuable to youths in his school, but also 
to many adults entering his institution.
A second package ol courses offered by the 
Cedar Rapids school was perhaps unique to his 
institution and was essential to A.N. Palmers 
dedication in spreading his distinctive gospel ol 
flowing penmanship. This course he called the 
Normal Commercial. It offered training in 
penmanship and overall inscriptional tech­
niques for all those aspiring to teach. In this 
sequence, either beginning or experienced 
teachers could learn how to chalk “both deli­
cately and attractively on the blackboard. I he 
professor’s view was that his human teaching 
products—whether they were to enter the 
ranks ol parochial or public secondary schools, 
elementary-level institutions, or even business 
colleges or other forms of private schools—had
T he Palimpsest 141
to be versatile individuals with an armament of 
“complete” packages: courses in bookkeeping, 
office business practice, inter-communication, 
and secretarial training. Also offered to those 
found deficient in various areas were business 
law, commercial arithmetic, rapid addition, 
business correspondence, ‘normal” penman­
ship (followed by “ornamental writing), 
flourishing, and an elective called pen art. All 
these contained courses incorporating instruc­
tion in how to get the subject across to stu­
dents, and a general methods course applicable 
to all business teaching was also offered.
This “normal or teacher training course 
provided a portion of Palmer s national reputa­
tion. Not only was it unique in covering so 
many areas of business education, it also pro­
vided summer courses for mature teachers. 
Roman Catholic parishes in particular sent 
their teachers to Cedar Rapids to pespire 
th rough the summer programs. As many as two 
hundred teachers arrived each summer from 
1913 to 1925, and Palmer’s welcoming words to
all became famous: You cannot teach what you 
do not know. The master teacher’s own on- 
the-spot research conducted during his non­
stop penmanship lecture circuits yielded proof 
that the properly trained business teacher 
could command better pay and enjoy a variety 
of job offers that other aspiring teachers did not 
share. For adolescents of both sexes he adver­
tised: Here is a very attractive opportunity for 
ambitious young people. His correspondence 
courses garnered a half-million customers from 
across the country. Palmer’s own bookstore 
operated as part of his Cedar Rapids enterprise 
and held a monopoly on all equipment re­
quired for his courses.
A nother publicized attraction of the Cedar Rapids Business College and its affiliates 
was the array of jobs that students held while 
undertaking the courses. Each college had 
part-time positions in the school’s banks where 
tellers, cashiers, and bookkeepers were em-
HAND, FINGER, AND PENHOLDER
STUDIES
STUDY closely the illustrations on this page. In number 7, the fingers 
bend naturally as in repose, and 
their positions should remain the same 
when the penholder is in the hand.
In numbers eight, nine and ten you 
should study the relation of the penholder 
to the hand. As you sec, it is a little 
below the knuckle joint. The first 
finger bends naturally, and rcst3 on top 
of the holder about one inch from the 
point of the pen; the thumb rests on
n the holder nearly opposite the __ first joint of the -first finger, and the third and fourth 
fingers arc bent, touching the 
paper and forming a movable 
rest- Whether these fingers 
I bend exactly as the illustra- 
Kg|f lions show will depend upon pCj
| |B  their shape and length, h  11®
d..cs n.a matti r whether tin s p l l  
rest on the nails or sides, if l'" 
■ H  they are comfortable and can 111 
be used easily as the movable 
rest. M
mww5
No. 9 No. JO
The Penman: Austin Norman Palmer demonstrates the proper technique (SHSI)
142 T he Palimpsest
JL
Learning by doing: penmanship drill in a Palmer classroom. The master often reminded his students, 
A few minutes in the right way are worth hours of practice in the wrong way.
<« »>
ployed, or in the institution s bookstore, han­
dling all Palmer products for over-the-counter 
sales and for the vast number of mail-order 
requests from correspondence students. All 
these positions were held exclusively by stu­
dents attending the college. In addition, each 
of the three communities where the schools 
were established maintained independent 
business offices to give students experiences in 
wholesale accounts, in real estate and insur­
ance, in commission computations, and in 
freight office books.
An unusual and successful aspect of the 
Cedar Rapids Business College Company was
its close link to its two cousin schools. Palmer 
established an intercommunication plan by 
which students would gain experience at one 
school while carrying on a “wholesale commis­
sion and banking business with students in his 
other two schools. To complement this, each 
school featured telegraph employment by 
which students trained at one school might be 
placed in the geographic area of another school. 
Managers of the operation proudly pointed out 
that Palmer graduates of the comprehensive 
shorthand course readily found jobs, and most 
alumni had a wide selection of attractive em­
ployment opportunities to choose from.
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T he Palimpsest 143
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IIOAUI) OF AWARDS
I he modest chain of schools maintained 
equal pride in the personal supervision ac­
corded each student. In a day when public 
education and academies were forced into be­
coming mass enterprises, Palmer s teachers 
made sure that the program fitted each student 
and that the speed of progress was neither too 
accelerated nor too slow for the individual. This 
sensitive pacing for each student was reflected 
in the scholarship” statement of the school’s 
Prospectus. Palmer’s own words indicate that 
no lump scholarships were awarded because 
some students got the best from a single term of 
attendance while others needed an entire
academic year to achieve a comparable goal. 
Under such varied conditions Palmer felt it was 
unfair to offer continuing subsidies.
The word “scholarships’ actually had an un­
usual meaning; students could benefit by pay­
ing their own “scholarships. If the student 
prepaid a package sum at the start, embracing 
all tuition, board and room, book rentals, sup­
ply purchases, and fuel for the room, he or she 
obtained a lower rate of “scholarship fee. 
Should a student be compelled to interrupt 
studies, he or she coidd re-enter the school on 
the prepaid scholarship without paying any in­
creased cost or re-entry fee.
144 T he  Palimpsest
The American Penman, Palmer s monthly magazine, not only propounded correct business style but 
also covered current developments in calligraphy. Shown here is an alphabet contributed to the 
magazine in 1907 by F.B. Courtney (SHS1)
T he Palimpsest 145
Rates for attendance in any of the three 
schools were almost identical. It was made 
clear that fees were for a full month of atten­
dance rather than for four weeks. The initial 
three months of tuition cost $ 10 per month; this 
was reduced to $8 for the second three, and to 
$ 7 for each month thereafter. If a block of three 
months was paid in advance, further package
savings of approximately 25 percent would ac­
crue.
All students paid their board and room—if 
needed—through the school office, yet dormi­
tories were never a part of the school. Instead, 
the administration ferreted out “respectable 
families willing to take youthful boarders and 
roomers at the school’s established fee. Thir­
teen weeks of board could be had for $25 and 
rooms were assigned in comparable homes for 
$2.50 per month. Fuel for rented rooms cost $9
per winter. The bundled rate for all books and 
supplies was established at $10, including per­
sonal stationery for writing home, but all had to 
be purchased at the Palmer-run store. The final 
fee was for the school s diploma; its margins 
alone were worth the dollar charge, for here 
was a “natural“ adornment of birds and flowers.
Palmer himself advised students to get into 
wise business habits by conserving personal 
income. Start your prudence here at school,’ 
he exhorted. Well-worn phrases from Palmer s 
lips that were often repeated by students were: 
Save rather than speculate! “Spend for intel­
lectual and physical development, not for lux- 
ury and amusement! Do not carry loose 
change, but deposit it in the school and with­
draw it when needed!
Other anticipated or actual idiosyncrasies of 
the school s operation were reflected in its pol­
icy. It is apparent that all three colleges en­
countered problems in getting students to
enter in early September, the start of the aca­
demic year. The common Prospectus advised 
that those who appeared the first week in Sep­
tember would receive their initial two weeks of 
tuition free. Further verbal encouragement 
came at this point: “The first week in Septem­
ber will be the most excellent time to begin a 
course in any of our schools.
An energetic, effective teacher and admin­istrator, Palmer built a small empire of 
business colleges with all operations centered 
in Cedar Rapids. Penmanship, the initial spark 
for hi s school, w as ignited and spread across the 
country, through most public and private 
schools. His overall influence was two-fold: a 
national name built on his penmanship opera­
tion and its publishing facilities and national 
acclaim for his business college operation and 
its network of correspondence and summer in­
struction. Little wonder his business college 
was the best known and one of the longest 
lasting private secondary schools in Iowa. Here 
was useful education at its best. □
Note on Sources
Sources with helpful information about Palmer and his 
business schools include J Shrock, Rise and Progress of 
Business Education in Iowa, Annals of Iowa, VII (July 
1869), 296; Joseph S. Taylor, A. N. Palmer: An Apprecia­
tion, Educational Review, LXXV1 (June 1928), 15-20, 
and Prospectus and Calendar, Cedar Rapids Business 
College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: The College, 1892), 5. Wil­
liam Duffy, Push and Pull, Push and Pull, Hit the Line 
Every Time,” The Cedar Rapids Gazette, March 27, 
1965, provides details about Palmer’s penmanship tech­
niques. See also: Frances Craig, ()h, Oh Kids, the 
Palmer Method is Back, ” Des Moines Register, March 12, 
1967, and A.N Palmer, “Business Schools Owned and 
Managed by the Western Business College Company. 
Cedar Rapids Gazette, August 18, 1892.


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