Photographs in the Archives Collection

Creator:

Perkins School for the Blind, creator, collector

Date Range:

1890-1990

Call Number:

AG12 [129]

Abstract:

Collection of photographs and photograph albums organized by subject related to the Perkins School for the Blind. 65 boxes, 1890-1990. Many photographs have been digitized and are available on our Flickr page. 

Extent:

33 linear feet

Language:

English

Processed by:

Perkins School for the Blind Archives

Biographical/Historical note:

In 1829, Perkins School for the Blind became the first school of its kind in the United States. Inspired by the school founded in Paris in 1784, Dr. John Dix Fisher gathered together a group of fellow Bostonians who advocated successfully for a school in Boston dedicated to the education of pupils who were blind. Contrary to popular perceptions at the time, the school’s founders believed that people who were blind could be educated and could live independently. 

The school opened to students in 1832 under our first director, Samuel Gridley Howe. Students followed a curriculum divided between academic subjects similar to any other school in Boston, and curriculum designed to improve tactile dexterity and provide employment options. Physical activity including daily walks, calisthenics, swimming, and rowing were also an important part of the curriculum. 

In 1837, eight-year old Laura Bridgman came to Perkins to be educated. She would become the first person who was deafblind to complete a formal education. The initiative would bring Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller together 50 years later and would evolve into the Perkins Deafblind School that continues to be a leader in the field today.

High demand required the school to move several times to accommodate more students. In 1912 the Watertown campus opened and was the first home to Perkins designed especially for students who were blind. This campus combined accessible architectural elements with an abundance of outdoor space that helped us improve the quality of services for our students. 

Over the years, Perkins has responded directly to the evolving needs of children who are blind or visually impaired. For example, Perkins expanded its Deafblind Program tenfold in the 1960s in response to the surge of babies born with deafblindness due to the rubella epidemic. With mainstreaming beginning in the 1970s, inclusive public education became the model for students who were blind.

Perkins continues to focus on students with multiple disabilities, supplemental outreach programming, and early childhood education. Perkins also supports the families, educators, professionals and researchers who support children through educational and accessibility services, and professional development.

Restrictions:

This collection contains items that are restricted.

The Perkins Archives reserves the right to deny physical access to materials available in a digital format. 

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:

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

Scope/contents:

This collection contains photographs and photograph albums related to the Perkins School for the Blind. The photographs span 1890 through 1990. Many of the photographs have been digitzed and are available on the Perkins Archives Flickr page. Subjects include various programs at Perkins, photographs of the campus in South Boston, Jamaica Plain, and Watertown, conferences, curriculum and student activities, extracurricular activities, graduation, holidays, travel, people, and more.

Arrangement:

69 boxes, arranged by subject

Related collections:

Digitized photograph collections on Flickr.

Container List:

Adult Services Program, circa 1980’s, bulk 1983

Box 1 

Photographs and contact sheets documenting the Adult Services Program at Perkins, which offered comprehensive rehabilitation to blind, deafblind, visually impaired, multi-impaired, and head-injured persons eighteen years old or older. Negatives also available. See also: Elders/Outreach. 

Art reproductions 

Box 2

Photographs of blind-related art; primarily photographs of art prints and artifacts in the Perkins collection.

Perkins Campus Photographs

Box 3

Perkins Campus: South Boston, circa 1880-1912:  Photographs of the Main Building, (formerly the hotel); View from the top of the main building of Perkins, the main building and courtyard, circa 1900; Girls buildings, circa 1899; Staff and students outside campus; Interior photographs; Photographs of the site of South Boston location taken in 1990.

Box 4

Campus #2 of 5 Watertown campus, Cottages, General campus photos, inc. aerials, Hilton (North) and Northeast buildings, Misc. buildings

Box 5

Campus #3 of 5 Watertown—Lower School, Lower School, Cottages

Box 6

Campus #4 of 5—Boston locations, South Boston, Early Boston

Box 7

Campus #5 of 5 Jamaica Plain Kindergarten

Conferences

Box 8 

• Conferences, International Conferences, and Conferences at Perkins, many featuring Director Waterhouse, 1941-1971, n. d.:
• Conference on Deaf-Blind Children, 1971
• International Council of Educators of Blind Youth, 1967
• Guidance Meeting, 1959 [Carl Davis?]
• AAWB, 1941
• Deaf-Blind Conference, 1958
• International Conference of Educators of Blind Youth, Oslo, Norway, 1957
• New Delhi, 1969
• Teacher of the Deaf-Blind, Yamanashi, 1966
• São Paulo, 1954, 1964
• Anne Sullivan Centennial Banquet, 1966  

Nelson Coon/Waterhouse Era

Box 9

• Contact sheets and negatives, 1950s-1970s  
• Curriculum

Box 10

Curriculum #1: Arts and crafts, Learning disabilities instruction, Misc. classroom photographs, Religious instruction and Morning Chapel, Orientation and Mobility  

Box 11

Curriculum–Deafblind Program: Classroom & learning activities, Music, vibration & Phipps unit, Field trip and graduation – 1980s, year unknown, Physical education, play, outdoor activity                                                                                                                                                              

Box 12 

Curriculum-Geography: Jamaica Plain (Kindergarten pre-1913), South Boston (pre-1912), Watertown (post-1912), Loose: Misc. non-Perkins  

Box 13

Curriculum-Manual arts/Vocational training #1 of 5: Massage, Needlework—Knitting, Weaving, Industrial and machine work  

Box 14

Curriculum-Manual arts/Vocational training #2 of 5: Sloyd, Engine repair, Independent living / Daily living skills – housecleaning, shopping, cooking, etc., Sewing and upholstery, Woodworking

Box 15

Curriculum-Manual arts/Vocational training #3 of 5: Business education – incl. typing and vending, Agricultural / Animal husbandry (poultry, rabbits, goats), Caning and basketry– incl. chairs, mats, brooms, etc., Piano tuning, South Boston Workshop – mattresses, mats, etc. Industrial Arts classroom/students, 1970s-1980s.  

Box 16

Curriculum-Manual arts/Vocational training #4 of 5: – Industrial arts – incl. woodworking, caning, weaving, power mechanics, auto mechanics, metals, machine shop, production, crafts, cooking, ceramics, sewing, and knitting, 1960s-1970s.  

Box 17

Curriculum-Manual arts/Vocational training #5 of 4: – Industrial Arts Department – incl. woodworking, cooking, ceramics, woodworking, caning, sewing and weaving 1960s-1970s.  

Box 18

Curriculum: Math, Science

Box 19

Curriculum-Music: Christmas concerts, Instrumental music, Instrumental music—Piano and organ, Lower school music, Vocal and choral music  

Box 20

Curriculum-Physical education #1 of 3, Includes team photos: Baseball, Cheerleading, Football, Goalball, Gymnastics & calisthenics, Misc. activities—inc. cottage athletic competitions, 20-30s; skating  

Box 21 

Curriculum-Physical education #2 of 3, Includes team photos: Misc. team sports—inc. basketball, Swimming, Track & Field, Wrestling

Box 22

Curriculum-Physical education #3 of 3 Outdoor recreation: Boating, Exercise organized by teachers, Play and exercise, recreational, not organized by teachers, Playground equipment—South Boston, Playground equipment—Jamaica Plain, Playground equipment—Watertown, Winter activities, inc. sledding, ice-skating, snow structures and snowball fights   

Box 23

Curriculum-Reading and writing: Literacy, preliteracy, and reading readiness, Reading (mostly braille), Writing with Braillers or older braille writers, Writing with slates or other implements  

Elders Program

Box 24 

Elders/Outreach Exhibitions and Open houses

Box 25

Art exhibits, Exhibitions, and Open houses

Extracurricular activities

Box 26 

Extracurricular activities #1 of 2: Outings and field trips; Camp Allen, Reading and misc. leisure activities, WWII activities, inc. paper drives, disaster preparedness, knitting

Box 27

Extracurricular activities #2 of 2: Clubs and scouts, Dances, Games

Graduation

Box 28

Graduation #1: Misc. older photos, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1966 – Robert Smithdas visit  

Box 29

Graduation #2: 1970s, 1940s, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, Undated (check photos in A.R. & Lantern to date them)

Holidays

Box 30

Christmas, Halloween

Libraries

Box 31

National Library Service / Library of Congress, Research Library, Student library and Study hall

Infant/Toddler program

Box 32

Infant/Toddler, Baby school, 1945-

Howe Press

Box 33

Currently, AG241 Howe Press photographs.   

Box 34

Other schools: Greece, India, Misc., labeled, Misc., unlabeled, Yokohama School for the Blind, Japan, Yokohama School for the Blind, Japan – Hideki Ooi, Deafblind student, Poitiers, France, Regional School for the Deaf and Blind & letters, 1956-57  

Box 35

Other schools—Japan 1968, Photographs of a visit to Japan by Perkins Director Waterhouse, Benjamin Smith, Robert, Campbell, Robert Smithdas, and Smithdas’s secretary, Herbert Lehman.  

Museums

Box 36

Museum, Displays and activities in the Tactile Museum.
See also EXHIBITIONS for Open House activities staged in Museum area.

People

Box 37

People–Deafblind—Individual portraits #1: Mostly student and alumni, often with teachers; includes R. Kinney.  

See: Photographs of Students with Deafblindness at the Perkins School for the Blind Finding Aid

• Allen, Jimmy & Margaret (playing with blocks)
• Angelika—Child from Greece (knitting)
• Balker (Baker?), Bobbie
• Begay, Billy
• Binson, Betty (reading, with another student)
• Brummet, Deborah (many with teachers, Tadoma, exploring objects)
• Casella, Grace (reading)
• Chapman, Tad (with Inis Hall, others)
• Chatterian, Haley
• Chee, David (in class, using Brailler)
• Crocker, Cora
• Crouch, Stephane (with teacher)
• Davis, Barbara (exploring toys, knitting)
• Dowdy, Leonard (with teachers and others, inc. R. Vivian, Miss Hall, wife Betty, 
• Juanita Morgan, Dr. Waterhouse)
• Heald, John (typing)
• Kinney, Richard (with others, all unidentified)

Box 38

People–Deafblind—Individual portraits #2: Mostly student and alumni, sometimes with teachers.  See: Photographs of Students with Deafblindness at the Perkins School for the Blind Finding Aid

• Misc. individuals #1 (pre-1925, many identified)
• Misc. individuals #2 (post-1925, many identified)
• Mitchell, Annie (knitting)
• Morgan, Juanita (with others, inc. Inis Hall, Barbara Sutton)
• Otero, Carmela (with others, teachers & students, playing, in class, using old Braillewriter)
• Patrick (last name unknown?) (playing on swings & hobbyhorse)
• Robin, Willie Elizabeth (with others, Miss Thayer, Edith Thomas, Mr. Whiting, teachers)
• Sabonaitis, Gayle (with Rose Vivian)
• Seifert, Helen (knitting, with teacher Miss Hoshor)
• Shipman, Gloria (with teacher and other students, doing schoolwork, playing on swings)
• Smith, Ernest
• Smithdas, Robert (adult, with Dr. Waterhouse, Hubert Humphrey)
• Thomas, Edith (with other students, Elizabeth Robin, Helen Keller; teachers Miss Markham, Annie Reicker, L. Fletcher) 
• Weir, Zella (doing schoolwork, touching Bridgman bust, with teacher)
• Winitzky, Nellie
• Yott, Louis (writing with braille slate, knitting)

Box 39

• People—Deafblind—Group portraits: see also: PEOPLE-DEAFBLIND-IND. PORTRAITS folders.  See: Photographs of Students with Deafblindness at the Perkins School for the Blind Finding Aid
• Teacher-student portraits (many Tadoma conversations)
• See also PEOPLE—DEAFBLIND—INDIVIDUAL PORTRAITS. Many students are photographed with teachers.
• See also: PEOPLE—DEAFBLIND—INDIVIDUAL PORTRAITS—CHAN POH LIN  

Box 40

• People–Deafblind—Tommy Stringer.
  • See: Photographs of Students with Deafblindness at the Perkins School for the Blind Finding Aid
  • Also with others: teachers Miss Bell, Miss Brown, Miss Conley, Miss Stratton; other students, inc. Elizabeth Robin, Charles Nelson, Joseph Rodrigo; riding tandem bicycle, examining automobile, doing schoolwork, sloyd

Box 41

People—Deafblind–Chan Poh Lin, Chan portraits, solo photographs, Chan with others, Chan with Helen Keller. See: Photographs of Students with Deafblindness at the Perkins School for the Blind Finding Aid  

Box 42

•  People—Misc. categories
• Alumni with family members or in groups
• Friedlander portraits (founder of Overbrook School in PA)
• Misc.
• Hanks, N.C., famous blind speaker in 1920s
• Carroll family (apparently not Father Thomas Carroll)
• Mt. Auburn – graves of Howe family, Margaret Fuller, Eliot, etc.
• Negatives
• Other agencies and organizations
• Promotional brochure, 1952: The Story of a School is the Story of a Child
• The child is Jerry (Gerard) Pierce
• Osborn, Jimmy—British boy sponsored by Ninth Air Force, 1945

Box 43

• People–Staff group photos  
• Directors with others—inc. staff, students, colleagues, trustees, etc. 
• see also: Conferences, Other schools,Graduation, Staff activities, Staff group portraits, Visitors Staff activities—unposed; inc. staff meetings Staff group portraits—may include directors Staff and family members 

Box 44

• People–Staff individual portraits                                                                                                   
• Directors—Individual portraits
• Staff portraits 1
• Staff portraits 2  

Box 44b

• People–Staff                                                                                                                              
• Directors—Individual portraits
• Photographs circa 1850’s to 1960’s. Contains some of the oldest portraits and group photographs of Perkins staff, many of which are cabinet cards. Group photos include school activities, meetings, casual photos of life as a teacher in the late 1800s, and the funeral of Samuel Gridley Howe. Photographs of Perkins directors include Samuel Gridley Howe, Edward J. Waterhouse, and Edward E. Allen.  

Box 45

People—Student groups: Boys, Co-ed, Girls, Girls’ cottage families  

Box 46

• People—Students & alumni portraits: Student and teacher, Students—two or more, Students/Alumni—Individual portraits
• Photograph Albums

Box 47

Photo album, 1937-1938 academic year. Possibly photographed by Nelson Coon. Includes outdoor activities, campus scenes, students, teachers, tactile projects  

Box 48

• Photo album, Nelson Coon, 1930s:                                                                                                  
• Photos taken circa 1931-1940
• Aerial shots, campus, students, staff, classroom, outdoor, and leisure activities. Includes photos of agricultural use of campus, garden of Keller-Sullivan when it was the Director’s cottage. 

Box 49

Photo album, Deafblind students and staff, 1970 

Box 50

Photo album—Greece, 1981 Scout trip, visit to Michael Anagnos’s birthplace

Box 51

Photo album—Greece, late 1980s, includes photos of Kevin Lessard, C. Richard and Deborah Carolson, Helen Fernald

Box 52

Photo album–Watertown Campus circa 1913: b&w photos of Watertown campus  

Collections

Box 53

Photo collection—Liz Banta—Deafblind Program, 1986                                          

Box 54

Photo collection—Margaret Bourke-White: Howe main entrance from NE perspective, Howe tower from west side of front entrance

Box 55

Photo collection—Dan Burns (former supervisor of Deafblind Program, late 1950s, early 1960s). Includes Bridgman signatures, papers, publications, photos

Box 57

Photo collection—Cora Gleason: Photographs and letters—students and staff  

Box 58

Photo collection—Greece, late 1980s. Include photos of Kevin Lessard, C. Richard and Deborah Carolson, Helen Fernald

Box 59

Photo collection—Larry Melander: Photo of buildings and students of Lower School, 1990-2000s; school events; unsorted.

Box 60

• Photo collections—Misc.                                                                                                                
• Bob Campbell photos. Incl. pictures of staff, students, buildings, classroom activities
• Photo album 1920s
• Lester Burdick envelope—incl. photos of Road Rallies, early 1980s  
• Physical therapy

Box 61 

Severely Impaired Program 1983-

Box 62

Special events on campus

Box 63

• Anne Sullivan Centennial Banquet 1966
• Fairs, concerts from non-Perkins musicians, celebrations
• 150th anniversary

Teacher training 

Box 64

• ELPs (Educational Leadership Program)
• Graduation and class portraits
• Misc. and candid portraits

Theater

Box 65, 66

Currently, AG207 Theater performances photographs.       

Visitors to Perkins

Box 67

Hirohito, 1931, misc.

Joseph Rodrigo Album

Box 69

Album of photographs documenting Perkins Kindergarten student Joseph Rodrigo, 1900-1904

Provenance:

Unknown

Subject headings:

• Perkins School for the Blind.
• Perkins School for the Blind–History.
• Smithdas, Robert J.
• Children who are blind
• Children who are deafblind
• Libraries
• Kindergarten
• People who are blind
• People who are blind–Education
• People who are deafblind
• People who are deafblind–Education
• Teachers of people who are blind
• Teachers of people who are deafblind