Links of Interest | Washington Calligraphers Guild

Resources for
Calligraphers

Looking for a freelance calligrapher?
See our list here.

Founding Documents and more:

The scribes who lettered Declaration
of Independence and US Constitution.
WCG magazine features engrossers of all 3 US Founding Documents and the member commissioned to reproduce them.
Brody Neuenschwander demonstrates how US founding documents were lettered.
1967 film The Art of Hermann Zapf on the purpose and techniques of calligraphy.
Julian Waters lecture traces development of Calligraphy, Lettering, Typeface Design. [The Power of Writing, top, by Julian Waters.]
Ewan Clayton on how letterforms evolved over time across the world.
7,000+ years of alphabet evolution worldwide.

Washington Calligraphers Guild Projects:

Graceful Envelope Contest: WCG sponsors this popular annual competition of envelope art, now in its 31st year. View 2026 winners; view winning envelopes from past years.
Meet Our WCG Members: Calligraphic achievements of some of our professional and amateur members, including the White House calligraphers.
CalligraFest: Our fall calligraphy fair was held nine times between 1999 and 2010 in N.VA.
Baby Elephant Walk: WCG's entry was selected to be among the 200 hand-painted donkey and elephant statues on display in every part of Washington DC in 2002. Our elephant was painted and lettered by three members.

~ ~ ~ LETTERFORUMS ~ ~ ~
WCG organized and hosted three International Calligraphy Conferences that we called Letterforums (logo by Julian Waters):
✧ Letterforum 1988, the 8th International Calligraphy Conference, was held at Marymount College in Arlington, VA (Dir: Judy Hoyle). 635 participants for 114 classes and presentations. Scripsit covering this event is sold out.
✧ Letterforum 1995, the 15th Assembly of Lettering Artists, was held at St. Mary’s College in southern Maryland (Director: Judy Hoyle). Located on the Chesapeake Bay, we called the conference The Great Escape. Scripsit covering the second Letterforum is sold out.
✧ Letterforum 2006, the 26th International Gathering of Lettering Artists, was held at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA (Directors: Pat Blair and Marta Legeckis). Scripsit covering this event is sold out; newsletter sent to registrants; view Letterforum's website. [logo: Julian Waters]
Video about the Guild: 16-minute video for Letterforum 2006. Click on this link to view it large rather than below.

Gerry Jackson Kerdok won Best in Show for this Graceful Envelope Contest entry.

Calligraphy Resources:

Paper & Ink Arts Calligraphy supply shop serving calligraphers worldwide online.
John Neal Books In addition to a large selection of calligraphy books and supplies, his team compiles class listings and events.
The Postman's Knock blog and tutorials by Lindsey Bugbee: TPK is an online resource for learning pointed pen calligraphy, creative hand lettering and watercolor techniques.
Pen World Magazine covers fountain pens for all uses, how-to guides and our Graceful Envelope Contest.
Calligraphy Crush: A digital magazine for hand lettering artists that provides tutorials and tips by creatives from around the world.
The Flourish Forum: Community for calligraphers of every skill level and all styles.
Cyberscribes! The original free listserv c ommunity for calligraphers.

Conferences, Workshops & Guilds:

77th Annual IAMPETH Conference for pointed pen, Aug.3-8, 2026 in Salt Lake City
Into the Heartland organized by the Chicago Calligraphy Collective, July 19-24, 2026.
DC Fountain Pen Supershow Aug.7-9, 2026 at the Marriott Fairview Park.
Washington Calligraphers Guild workshops
Cheerio retreats. Study with acclaimed calligraphers in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
List of Guilds and Study Groups in US and Canada (compiled by Summit Scribes)

Learning Calligraphy:

Foundations of Calligraphy by Sheila Waters features exemplar alphabets and instruction for broad-pen lettering.
The Speedball Textbook is a must-buy for all broad and pointed pen calligraphers.
Pointed pen tutorials from IAMPETH.
PDF of 10 different calligraphy hands using both broad-edged and pointed pens.
Ductus: guidelines generator for calligraphers.
Calligraphic and digital resources from Tamar Ghoneim.
How to Write Calligraphy (Katharine Beckett).
CalligraScape: Tutorials for beginners on a wide variety of styles (Richard Wideman).

Manuscript Resources:

Donald Jackson and team lettered and illuminated The Saint John's Bible, the first Bible created completely by hand since the invention of the printing press.
Medieval bookbinding video.
How an Illuminated Manuscript is made.
Seven Things to Look for in Medieval Manuscripts, from medievalists.net.
The Aberdeen Bestiary: the lavish medieval book about animals is online and free.
The Book of Kells contains the four Gospels of the New Testament. Written in 806, it has been digitized; online and free.
Digital images from The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD.