Photographs of students with deafblindness

Creator:

Unknown

Date Range:

1890-1950

Call Number:

AG587

Abstract:

This is a collection of portraits of students, as well as their teachers, at the Perkins School for the Blind from.  The students, ranging in age from kindergarten to adulthood, are shown in formal portraits, as well as in their daily activities.  The collection highlights various communication methods used with people with a combined vision and hearing loss. Most are black and white photographs.

Extent:

2 linear feet

Language:

English

Processed by:

Molly Stothert-Maurer and Charlotte Cushman

Biographical/Historical notes:

Perkins is the oldest school for the blind in the United States.  Since its incorporation in 1829, it has had a number of different names, as well as various locations in the greater Boston area.  Under the leadership of its first director, Samuel Gridley Howe, the New England Asylum for the Blind opened its doors in August of 1832 at 140 Pleasant Street in Boston. In 1833 the school moved to a house on Pearl Street that had been donated by Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, a wealthy merchant and philanthropist.  Perkins later allowed the property to be sold to enable the school to purchase a former hotel in South Boston, and the school moved there in May 1839.  In recognition of his generosity, the Board of Trustees named the school the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind.  In 1887, the second director of Perkins, Michael Anagnos, founded the first kindergarten for the blind, located in Jamaica Plain.  The school moved to its current location in Watertown in 1912, where it is located on a 38.5 acre property on the banks of the Charles River.

In 1931 Perkins School for the Blind opened a special department for students with deafblindness.  Prior to this time, a special teacher was hired for each pupil, but once the new department was established, teachers trained in speech development were hired for classroom instruction, and residential staff was hired for time outside of the classroom.

At this time, speech work through oral instruction was the primary mode of communication and the use of sign language was not encouraged.  Many students were instructed at that time using the Tadoma method, in which a hand is placed on the face of the speaker, lightly touching the lips, cheek, jaw, and neck.  The listener then feels the air, lip and jaw movement, and the vibration of the speaker’s vocal cords as each sound is made. Tadoma was the primary method of teaching speech and language to children who were deafblind until the early 1950s.  It was a very time-consuming process and not all students were able to master it.

Sources of information:

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

Restrictions:

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:

AG587 Photographs of Students with Deafblindness. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.

Scope/Contents:

This collection contains portraits of students, as well as their teachers, at the Perkins School for the Blind. The students, ranging in age from kindergarten to adulthood, are shown in formal portraits, as well as in their daily activities. The collection highlights various communication methods used with people with a combined vision and hearing loss. Most are black and white photographs.

Related collections:

Students with Deafblindness at the Perkins School for the Blind on Flickr

Scope/Contents:

Arrangement:

B1:F1 = Box 1, Folder 1

The collection is arranged into four boxes.

• Box 1: Portrait of Students with Deafblindness A-L
• Box 2: Portrait of Students with Deafblindness M-Z
• Box 3: Thomas Stringer
• Box 4: Group portraits

Container List:

Box 1: Portrait of Students with Deafblindness A-L

• B1:F1: Allen, Jimmy and Margaret, twins with deafblindness born Dec. 27, 1930, 18 black and white photographs, 1 photograph of newspaper clipping (2 duplicates), [1937, no date]
• B1:F2:  Angeliki, from Greece, photographed knitting, 5 black and white photographs (2 duplicates), (1950)
• B1:F3: Balker, Bobby, 6 black and white photographs (October, 13 1939)
• B1:F4: Begay, Billy, Native American-Navajo, 1 black and white photograph, [c 1968]
• B1:F5: Rinsem, Betty, 8 black and white photographs, three with another student, (Oct. 6, 1939)
• B1:F6: Brummet, Deborah, many with teachers, Tadoma, exploring objects, notes for publication,19 black and white photographs with duplicates, [c 1970]
• B1:F7: Casella, Grace, reading, 4 black and white photographs, [no date]
• B1:F8: Chapman, Winthrop “Tad”, with Inis Hall and others, 7 black and white photographs, one of newspaper article (1933-1938)
• B1:F9: Chatterton, Harley, 7 photographs, (1938)
• B1:F10: Chee, David, in class using Brailler, 4 black and white photographs, [1957, no date]
• B1:F11: Crocker, Cora, and Marion Rastrom, 2 black and white photographs with 9 duplicates, [no date]
• B1:F12: Crouch, Stephane, with teacher, two black and white photographs, [no date]
• B1:F13: Davis, Barbara, with teacher, two black and white photographs, [no date]
• B1:F14: Dowdy, Leonard, with teachers and others including: R. Vivian, Miss Hall, wife Betty, Juanita Morgan, Dr. Waterhouse, 28 black and white photographs and 1 color polaroid, [1933, 1948, no date]
• B1:F15: Heald, John, typing, three black and white photographs [no date]
• B1:F16: Kinney, Richard (Dr.), director of the Hadley School for the Blind in Winnetka, Illinois, 6 black and white photographs with duplicates. Note: not affiliated with Perkins. [no date, died1979]
• B1:F17: Miscellaneous #1, 18 black and white images. Note: some individuals may not have    deafblindness, or may not be affiliated with Perkins.[1891, 1895, 1897, 1903, no date]
• B1:F18: Miscellaneous #2, 21 student and teacher cards with black and white photographs and about 40 other black and white images. Note: some individuals may not have deafblindness, or may not be affiliated with Perkins. [1930-1980]

Box 2: Portrait of Students with Deafblindness M-Z

• B2:F1: Mitchell, Annie, 3 black and white photographs, no date
• B2:F2: Morgan, Juanita, about 25 black and white photographs [1950]
• B2:F3: Otero, Carmela, about 25 black and white photographs [1936]
• B2:F4: Sabonitis, Gayle, 2 black and white photographs (1955)
• B2:F5: Patrick, 6 black and white photographs (1936)
• B2:F6: Shipman, Gloria, about 20 black and white photographs, no date
• B2:F7: Seifert, Helen, two black and white photographs, (1935)
• B2:F8: Smithdas, Robert, 6 black and white photographs, no date
• B2:F9: Smith, Ernest, 9 black and white photographs (1920)
• B2:F10: Weir, Zella, 4 black and white photographs, no date
• B2:F11: Winitzky, Nellie, 2 black and white photographs (1910)
• B2:F12: Yott, Louis, 2 black and white photographs (1910)
• B2:F13: Thomas, Edith, about 30 black and white photographs mostly from photography studios and mounted on cardboard and some photomechanical reproductions, [c 1900]
• B2:F14: Robin, Willie Elizabeth, about 30 black and white photographs, mostly from photography studios and mounted on cardboard and some photomechanical reproductions, [c 1900]

Box 3: Thomas Stringer

• B3:F1: Stringer, Thomas, about 50 black and white photographs, [1894-1903]
  • Includes: portraits in sailor suit, with Hellen Keller, birthplace, with Elizabeth Robin, riding tandem bicycles, at plymouth rock, in theater costume, with Miss Bell, Miss Stratton, Miss Conley, plucking chickens, sawing wood, and using a Brailler.  

Box 4: Group portraits 

• B4:F1: Mrs Sager with Louis Yott,1 fragile photograph, (1910)
• B4:F2: Group portriats and pairs of students and students with teachers, about 25 photographs [1890-1910]
• B4:F3: Group portraits and pairs of students, many with tandem bicycle and one with President Bill Clinton, about 50 photographs, [1890-1979, bulk 1930s]
• B4:F4: Teacher/student portraits with many Tadoma conversations, about 50 photographs, [1890-1970, bulk 1950s]
• B4:F5: Girl with deafblindness with teachers, 3 oversized photographs, ca 1936

Subject headings:

• Perkins School for the Blind.
• Perkins School for the Blind–History
• Children who are deafblind
• Stringer, Thomas, 1886-1945
• Robin, Elizabeth
• Smithdas, Robert J.
• Thomas, Edith, 1882-