© shironosov/GettyElderly person reads an intricately handwritten letter
"It's easy to do for a half hour a day or a week," Suzanne Isaacs, community manager with the National Archives Catalog, said
Reading cursive can now be added to the list of most-wanted skills — at least according to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
The federal organization tasked with archiving the country's most precious records and documents is currently looking for volunteers who can read the cursive writing of over 200 years' worth of documents, USA Today reported.
The majority of the handwritten documents that need transcribing are from the Revolutionary War when writing in cursive was the standard form of penmanship, the outlet said.
© Patrick Donovan/GettyNational Archives Building
"Reading cursive is a superpower," Isaacs added.
The volunteer process is quite simple. Those interested should register for a free online account with the National Archives and then begin reading available documents that are ready to be cataloged.
"There's no application," Isaacs said. "You just pick a record that hasn't been done and read the instructions. It's easy to do for a half hour a day or a week."
Reading (and writing) cursive is quickly becoming a lost art form, as there are currently just 24 states that require cursive be taught in U.S. schools to students in K-12, according to Education Week.
This is less than half of what was required 25 to 30 years ago.
Much of that reasoning is attributed to the rise in using computers instead of handwriting documents, as well as the frequent use of text messaging, according to the organization.
Comment: Although the idea is amusing, more is being lost than just the skill: