Blaisdell Day

Stephen Blaisdell's Will
A Friendly Gesture to the Blind
by Anna Gardner Fish
The Lantern, June 15, 1940

Good friends of Perkins Institution, possessed of wealth and of a generous spirit, have won well-deserved and heartfelt appreciation of their ever-helpful gifts to the school, but it remained for a humbler benefactor to warm the cockles of the pupils' hearts through his provision by will for their pleasure.

This was Stephen Blaisdell, blind like themselves, who, as a boy at Perkins, had often wished, so he said, for a little money in his pocket, and determined that the boys of his alma mater, whom he surmised to be "hard up" at times, should have the satisfaction of possession at least once a year.

He was, as this implies, a poor boy, coming from Phippsburg, Maine, to Perkins in 1844 at the age of 9 years, and he is recorded as one of the early graduates and later an employee in the workshop for adults, which he left in 1869.

He made his home in South Boston and was a frequent visitor at the school, taking a personal interest in its welfare and in its people, two of whom were named as the executors of his will. He was a good tuner and an able musician and taught music successfully for a while; but later he became a business man, selling or renting pianos, selling sewing machines, turning to advantage every opportunity that presented itself, and prospering. Although totally blind, he traveled about freely alone, making his own collections and keeping his own accounts in braille. He was both thrifty and industrious and, although shrewd in his transactions and able to drive a sharp bargain, he was strictly honest in all his dealings. He took a great interest in public affairs and kept himself informed on the questions of the day. And he never failed to cast his vote at elections.

He died in November, 1901, at the age of sixty-six years, leaving a will in which Perkins' pupils were most kindly remembered in the disposition of his estate, which amounted to $10,000, -- not a large sum, but much of the property consisted of western lands which later became exceedingly valuable and added importance to the bequest, which was as follows:

"They (the trustees of the estate) are to pay to each pupil of the Perkins Institution for the Blind and the Kindergarten connected with the same, the sum of one dollar on or before the twelfth day of February of each year, the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, and in Commemoration of his freeing the slaves and preserving the Union, and this is to be called the "Blaisdell Fund." If the amount of money warrant it, and the trustees deem it advisable I also direct that they may pay a like sum to each f said pupils on or before the Fourth day of July of each year.
"If the trustees consider it best instead of the last payment they may pay to the graduates each year the sum of from ten to fifteen dollars."

It seemed best to the active executor to make a definite gift to the graduates instead of the optional distribution on the fourth of July, when the students are widely scattered and as soon as the accumulated income made it possible, in 1913, a check for $10 was given to each graduate, the sum being increased to $15 in 1915 and remaining at that figure ever since, a fact which would surprise the donor, Mr. Blaisdell, who himself believed that the fund would someday be exhausted, for he wrote into his will:

"They are to pay the amounts to...the said pupils from the income, and if that i snot sufficient, from the principal until the whole has been exhausted."

But the legacy, rather than diminishing, has increased in the efficient care of the sole surviving trustee, Mr. Reardon, manager of the Howe Memorial Press, and later his successor, Mr. Frank C. Bryan. While the latter makes no prophecy as to the future status of the fund, he has had the satisfaction of maintaining its high level for the last quarter century, a record which is equally gratifying to the entire personnel of the school and to those who, going out to seek such fortunes as the world may hold for them, have shared in the benefaction bestowed upon them by Stephen Blaisdell.

Note that this is an article from 1940 and changes and updates have occurred since that time.