early Gregg magazine The Light-Liner is online

Those interested in the history of Gregg Publishing and/or Gregg Shorthand will enjoy perusing The Light-Liner. A few volumes have recently been put online at the Louis A. Leslie Shorthand Collection website, part of Rider University Libraries.

This is a link to Volume 2, numbers 2-8.

The other relevant items can be found by typing light-liner into the search box at the top of that website’s pages.


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  1. On closer examination I see that the publication changed its name to The Gregg Writer in 1900 but the website has it indexed as The Light-Liner.

    Leafing through these Gregg periodicals, it's remarkable to note the similarity to early Esperanto publications: an excited report of the first convention, news of the system being adopted in various cities, claims that this system is easier to learn than others, talk of "rescuing" Pitmanites from "evil association with 'shady' characters," an anecdotal report of one woman being able to write a letter in Gregg after two hours of study, etc. And a lot of energy was put into writing snarky responses to criticisms of the Gregg system.

    There's even an advert for a large lithographed photo of John Robert Gregg "suitable for hanging in school room, office or home."

    I imagine this emphasis on creating a feeling that Gregg students were taking part in a good cause, a worthy movement, must have contributed to the system's survival in its early days. "If you *believe in* the system, support this magazine and help the *good work* along. Subscribe yourself and induce your friends to do so."

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