Howe Press correspondence and printed material collection

Creator:

Perkins School for the Blind

Date Range:

Circa 1906-2000s, bulk 1940s-1960s

Call Number:

AG14

Abstract:

Correspondence, photographs, and marketing materials from the Howe Press circa 1911-1997. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence related to the Perkins Brailler most of which are addressed to or from its designer David Abraham (1896–1978). This collection also includes photographs, prints, price lists, catalogs, brochures, and clippings. Photographs include the Howe Press staff, facilities, products, and processes such as the embossing of braille plates for book-printing. Some photographs are reproductions of material from the 1930s and earlier. Products featured in the collection include the Perkins Braillers 1 and 2, the Free Hand Drawing Stylus, the Life-Time Eraser, the Reversible Stylus, the E-Z Read Slate, and the Howe Press Braille-Master Vertical Plate Stereotyping Machine. An illustration of games designed or modified for people who are blind and made in the manual training department of Perkins in 1911 is also included.

Extent:

0.5 linear feet

Language:

English

Processed by:

Jen Hale, 2015 ; updated in 2019 and 2024 by Jen Hale

Biographical/Historical notes:

When Michael Anagnos became Perkins’ second director in 1876, the printing department had been producing tactile books for more than 40 years. The press had always struggled for funding, and Anagnos was determined to make it self-sustaining. A consummate fundraiser, Anagnos created a $100,000 endowment for the printing department, renaming it Howe Memorial Press as a tribute to his father-in-law Samuel Gridley Howe, Perkins’ first director.

In the 1880s, Howe Memorial Press began producing books in American Braille as well as in the embossed alphabet Boston Line Type system developed by Samuel Gridley Howe. Many years later, when standard braille was adopted, the press shifted its production to that system. Howe Press also developed and sold simple mechanical braille writers, maps, slates, ciphering boards and other school materials used by students with visual impairments throughout the country. In 1951 the first Perkins Bailler, designed by David Abraham went on the market. By 1969, over 50,000 machines were in use in 75 countries around the world. The Perkins Brailler is still manufactured today with only minimal changes to its original design and used around the world. 

David Abraham (1896–1978), an English immigrant with a manufacturing background, joined the Perkins Industrial Arts Department in the mid-1930s. Abraham’s manual skills and experience in manufacturing and design brought him to the notice of Director Gabriel Farrell. Abraham agreed to create a prototype of a braille writer that incorporated a list of desirable features. The prototype was a success and is still manufactured as the Perkins Brailler with only minimal changes to its original design. David Abraham went on to become Chief Engineer at Howe Press.

Sources of information:

McGinnity, B.L., Seymour-Ford, J. and Andries, K.J. (2004) Howe Press and the Perkins Brailler. Perkins History Museum, Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA.

McGinnity, B.L., Seymour-Ford, J. and Andries, K.J. (2004) Figures in Perkins History. Perkins History Museum, Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA.

Restrictions:

None

Copyright:

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Perkins School for the Blind, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.

Credit line/Citation:

AG14 Howe Press Correspondence and Printed Material Collection. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.

Scope/Contents:

This collection documents the history of the Howe Press, particularly the 20th century when Perkins School for the Blind designed and manufactured several models of braille writers. 

This collection primarily focuses on the Perkins Brailler. Several photographs document the Perkins Braillers as well as their manufacture from the 1950s through the 1970s. The bulk of the collection is correspondence which is primarily written to David Abraham and all related to the brailler. Publicity for Howe Press products and services include a few catalogs and price lists from the 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s. Instructions for the brailler from 1967, include two copies in braille.

This collection also documents book printing and other Perkins products developed at the Howe Press. Photographs document stereotyping, printing, and binding of books from the early turn of the century through the 1970’s. Photographs also include several publicity shots of Perkins products for writing tools such as braille slates and stylus.

Arrangement:

 One manuscript case and one oversize box are arranged by material and chronologically within. The box contains oversize materials.

Related collections:

Howe Press. AG129 Photographs in the Archives Collection. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.

Howe Press and Workshop Collection (Flickr). Circa 1902-1975. Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA.

Leon, Murphy. Interview by Jan Seymour-Ford. Oral History Project, Staff and Descendant Oral Histories, 13 July 2005.

Lamen, Marge Abraham. Interview by Betsy McGinnity. Oral History Project, Staff and Descendant Oral Histories, undated.

List of Embossed Books, Music, Maps, Appliances and Tangible Apparatus for the Use of the Blind, (Internet Archive), Watertown, MA: The Howe Memorial Press, 1910.

Perkins School for the Blind, Howe Press Catalog, 1976. Internet Archive.

Waterhouse, Edward J. History of The Howe Press of Perkins School for the Blind. (Internet Archive) Watertown, MA: The Howe Press of Perkins School for the Blind, 1975.

Container List:

Box 1: 

• B1:F1:   Items of Interest: The original Perkins’ Library document, undated
• B1:F2:   Press and binding room of the Howe Memorial Press, South Boston, printed of photograph with caption, circa 1906
• B1:F3:   Perkins Brailler correspondence, 1932-1954
• B1:F4:   Perkins Brailler brochures and promotional print, circa 1940s and 1950s
• B1:F5:   Perkins Brailler original publicity and correspondence, 1947-1958
• B1:F6:   Data for determining expected output and expected time assembly, circa 1950-1980s
• B1:F7:   Howe Press stereotyping machine brochures, circa 1952
• B1:F8:   Howe Press Catalog, 1956
• B1:F9:   Labeled and unlabeled prints showcasing Perkins products, circa 1965
• B1:F10:   Howe Press  Catalog, 1956
• B1:F11: Louis Braille memorial year program, 1975
• B1:F12: Howe Press Price lists, 1976-1977
• B1: F13: Howe Press sales catalog, 1983
• B1: F14: Copy of letter to Director Lessard from Jack Gleason, with correction about where David Abraham created brailler, 1987
• B1:F15: Howe Press booklet in braille, circa 1990s 
• B1:F16: Howe Press catalogs, price lists, and 1959 Perkins Brailler schematic photocopies, undated, 1995-1997
• B1:F17: Perkins Brailler repair: cleaning and oiling – Volume 1 DVD, after 2004

Provenance:

The collection is part of Perkins School for the Blind, with the exception of the Howe Press Sales Catalog from 1983 donated in 2019.

Subject headings:

• Perkins School for the Blind.
• Perkins School for the Blind–History.
• Perkins School for the Blind. Howe Press
• Howe Memorial Press
• Blind–Printing and writing systems
• Howe, S. G. (Samuel Gridley), 1801-1876
• Anagnos, Michael, 1837-1906
• Farrell, Gabriel