Since Tony brought up Spencerian. . .
If you are in the neighborhood of a major pen show(maybe even one of the smaller ones) check out the list of exhibitors to see if any calligraphers or master penmen will be there. Michael Sull (Reagan's calligrapher) has been at the Ohio Pen Show the past several years and always gives an interesting presentation on some aspect of penmanship of penmanship or history. In addition he will sign your name for you in Spencerian. He publishes instructional books on Spencerian writing and American Cursive Handwriting at his website:
Spencerian Script ::: American Cursive. American Cursive is basically an instruction manual that he wrote primarily (I think) at the request of homeschoolers.
Another name to look for is Deb Basel.
A Little bit of History courtesy of Michael Sull: The Declaration of Independence was written in a script known as English Round Hand. It was the also know as Copperplate from the engravings made for printing and was the most common form of writing at the time. It was also extremely formal and exacting, with all sorts of rules, written entirely with the finger muscles, and much conducive to writer's cramp.
Platt Rogers Spencer, on the other hand, took his forms from nature, and rather than using just the fingers to so the writing he used the whole arm, thus large muscles, thus less tiring. Spencerian script was fast and legible an remained in use as the prime method of business correspondence from the 1850's into the 20th century.https:
Here is an interesting TED talk titled: Why Write? by Jake Weidmann (a very young master penman):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85bqT904VWA
Not a very smooth flow here today. More of a raging torrent. At least it didn't last long
Sorry,
Bill