Creator:
Perkins School for the Blind
Date Range:
1891-1924
Call Number:
AG20
Abstract:
Thomas (Tommy) Stringer was born in Washington, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1886 and became deafblind after contracting spinal meningitis in infancy. When Stringer arrived at Perkins in 1891, his fellow deafblind classmates at Perkins included Edith Thomas, Willie Elizabeth Robin, and Helen Keller. This collection includes teacher notes and journals, newspaper clippings and published works, financial and fundraising records, and schoolwork.
Extent:
2 linear feet
Language:
English
Processed by:
Elizabeth Constanti, 2014
Processing notes:
This collection was processed with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Preservation and Access, Washington, D.C., 2012-2015.
Biographical/Historical notes:
Thomas (Tommy) Stringer was born in Washington, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1886 and became deafblind after contracting spinal meningitis in infancy. Until the age of five he was living in hospitals and almshouses, as his mother had died and his father was poor and could not help.
When Helen Keller was 10 years old, she learned of Stringer’s situation and became intent on helping him. Keller was instrumental in to paying for his education at Perkins by soliciting the help of donors. When Stringer arrived at Perkins in 1891, he was extremely feeble from having spent his first five years mostly confined to a bed. Stringer’s fellow deafblind classmates at Perkins included Edith Thomas, Willie Elizabeth Robin, and Helen Keller.
Stringer later became an extremely active child interested in mathematics, construction and other labors. He was especially skilled at woodworking. He learned to communicate with the manual alphabet and achieved limited speech while at Perkins. He spent many summers on a farm in Wrentham, Massachusetts where, among other activities, he built railings and plucked chickens.
Stringer died in 1945 in Fulton, New York where he lived with Mr. Lee Edgarton since leaving Perkins in 1913.
Sources of information:
The Lantern (Internet Archive). Vol 15 Issue 1. 1945. Pg. 5.
Fish, Anna Gardner. “Thomas Stringer” in The blind-deaf : A monograph, being a reprint of The Deaf-Blind, with revision and additions / Wade, William. Indianapolis IN: Hecker Brothers, 1904.
Helen Keller FAQ, Perkins School for the Blind
Ellis, William (1897). “Helen Keller and Tommy Stringer”. St. Nicholas; An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks.
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:
AG20 Thomas Stringer Collection. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.
Scope/Contents:
The Thomas Stringer Collection includes teacher notes and journals, newspaper clippings and published works, financial and fundraising records, and schoolwork. Schoolwork includes Stringer’s own square handwriting and braille work. Teacher journals are kept by multiple teachers, those known are; Margaret A. Bull, Laura A. Brown, Annie Carbee, and Ruth L. Thomas. Financial and fundraising materials include Stringer’s personal account books, invoices, bank statements, and fundraising papers, many of which were kept by former Perkins director Edward E. Allen. Newspaper clippings and published works are the bulk of this collection, some published works are written by Michael Anagnos, Perkins second Director.
Arrangement:
2 boxes, 1 oversized box, 11 journals/record books
- Series 1: Schoolwork & Braille
- Subseries 1: Journals/Record Books
- Series 2: Teachers notes/journals
- Subseries 1: Journals/Record Books
- Series 3: Financial & Fundraising records
- Subseries 1: Journals/Record Books
- Series 4(bulk): Newspaper clippings & Published works
Related collections:
AG1 Edward E. Allen Collection. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.
AG9 Michael Anagnos Collection. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.
AG52 Teacher Journals of Laura Bridgman and other Deafblind Pupils Collection. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.
Students with Deafblindness at the Perkins School for the Blind Digital Collection on Flickr
Container List:
Series 1: Schoolwork & Braille
- B1:F1: Sloyd (handwriting), Tommy Stringer, 1897-1898
- B1:F2: Thomas Stringer, Various Braille, 1912-1913
Subseries 1: Journals/Record Books
- Box 4: Work of Thomas Stringer, Handwriting, 1896-1897
Series 2: Teacher notes/journals
Box 1
- B1:F3: Tommy Stringer, teacher journal, 1891
- B1:F4: Thomas Stringer, Teacher notes & correspondence, 1891-1913
Subseries 1: Journals/Record Books
- Box 5: Thomas Stringer, teacher journal kept by Margaret A. [Brill], 1891
- Box 6: Thomas Stringer, teacher journal kept by [Laura A. Brown], 1893-1896
- Box 7: Thomas Stringer, journal kept by his teacher, 1894-1895
- Box 8: Thomas Stringer, teacher journal kept by Ruth L. Thomas, 1904-1905
- Box 9: Thomas Stringer, teacher journal kept by Annie Carbee, 1905-1906
- Box 10: Thomas Stringer, journal kept by his teacher, 1907-1908
Series 3: Financial & Fundraising records
- B1:F5: Thomas Stringer, Publications, 1898-1906
- B1:F6: Thomas Stringer school bills & Kidder Peabody & Co. receipts, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1913
- B1:F7: Thomas Stringer, Daily Calendars, 1910-1913
- B1:F8: Thomas Stringer & Fredrick V. Walsh receipts, 1910-1913
- B1:F9: Perkins school taxes, insurance, building maintenance papers, 1910-1913
- B1:F10: Kidder, Peabody & Co., Sales receipts, stock records, 1910, 1913, 1925
- B1:F11: Correspondence, Thomas Stringer to Florence Proctor, 1911. Correspondence, James Ryan to unknown newspaper, 1910.
- B1:F12: Perkins school maintenance & building tax papers, 1911
- B1:F13: F.J. Kessler & Co, Lease Insurance Papers, Thomas Stringer Sales receipts, 1911, 1912, 1914
- B1:F14: Thomas Stringer papers concerning rent fees, 1912
- B1:F15: Perkins school building maintenance, taxes, lease papers, 1912-1913
- B1:F16: Kidder, Peabody & Co., Thomas Stringer, Allen, Edward, Account papers, 1914, 1921, 1924, 1926
- B1:F17: Kidder, Peabody & Co., Sales receipts, stocks, 1914, 1923
- B1:F18: Thomas Stringer, Bank Books-1916, 1922
- B1:F19: Kidder, Peabody & Co., Bonds, Income invoices, 1916, 1918, 1920
- B1:F20: Allen, Edward. Thomas Stringer. Accounts & Income papers, 1917
- B1:F21: Kidder, Peabody & Co., Thomas Stringer, sales receipts, bank books, 1919, 1925, 1926
- B1:F22: Lee Edgarton, Bank Papers, 1926
- B1:F23: Thomas Stringer, envelope
- B1:F24: Thomas Stringer, envelope
- B1:F25: Thomas Stringer, envelope
Subseries 1 Journal/ Record books
- Box 11: Thomas Stringer Account book kept by Edward Allen, 1894
- Box 12: Thomas Stringer Account book kept by Michael Anagnos, 1899-1918
- Box 13: Thomas Stringer Account books, 1907-1916
- Box 14: Thomas Stringer Account book kept by Edward Allen, undated
Series 4 (bulk): Newspaper clippings & Published works
Box 2
- B2:F26: Thomas “Tommy” Stringer, articles & clippings, 1891-1915 [bulk 1891]
- B2:F27: Thomas Stringer & Willie E. Robin, DeafBlind, articles, 1894-1899
- B2:F28: The Ten Timer One Record, original and photocopy, 1897
- B2:F29: The Every Day Church [sermon on Tommy Stringer], original and photocopy, 1903
- B2:F30: “The Case of Tommy Stringer”, original and photocopy, 1907
- Box 3 (oversized)
- B3:F31: Thomas “Tommy” Stringer, Newspaper articles & clippings, some oversized, copies and originals, 1891-1915
- B3:F32: Thomas Stringer, Newspaper & magazine articles, oversized, 1897-1905
Subject headings:
- Perkins School for the Blind.
- Perkins School for the Blind–History.
- People who are deafblind.
- People who are deafblind–Education.
- Stringer, Thomas, 1886-1945
- Teachers of people who are deafblind
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