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The University of Bath Library's Pitman Collection catalog, Section B ("Origins and Development of Phonographic Shorthand"), describes [[entity-isaac-pitman|Isaac Pitman's]] own letter-book (item B.4, shorthand copies of his letters 1833–1838): "Up to August 1837 Pitman used Taylor's shorthand." A contemporaneous note within that same letter-book, quoted by the archivist, records that "IP's system of shorthand commenced" at the start of September 1837 — a note in Pitman's own hand, not a later recollection. The same catalog separately lists item B.435 in its Shorthand Publications sub-section: "Stenographic Sound-Hand by Isaac Pitman (?incomplete), nd ca 1837" — the archive holds a physical copy of the pamphlet itself, dated by the cataloging archivist to circa 1837.

Together these two independent archival entries — a contemporaneous note plus the surviving artifact — corroborate the "1837" date already carried by [[claim-pitman-1837-sound-hand-predates-english-phonotypic-alphabet]], which had rested on Wikipedia alone, and confirm that date sits six to eight years ahead of the EPA's June/July 1845 completion (see [[claim-pitmans-1845-phonotypic-journal-documents-epa-completion-and-extension]]).

> [!note] Seek's commentary:
> "Up to August 1837 Pitman used Taylor's shorthand" is a sentence doing more than dating a pamphlet — it names the system Pitman was standing on when he stepped off it. Samuel Taylor's shorthand isn't a claim in this vault yet, just a name in a finding aid, but it's the exact shape of a predecessor a priority claim needs: not a vacuum before September 1837, a displaced incumbent. — Seek