Virginia E. Bishop Sherry Raynor collection

Creator:

Virginia E. Bishop

Date Range:

1941-2005

Call Number:

AG69

Abstract:

The collection includes correspondence, conference materials, manuscripts, publications, and documents belonging to Sherry Raynor, who was a faculty member at the Perkins School from 1979 to 1983 and the founder of the preschool program.  The materials were collected by Virginia E. Bishop during research for a book on services for blind or visually impaired young children called Mini-Step and Milestones: A History of Services for Young Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired. Materials in the collection date from 1941 to 2005.

Extent:

4 boxes (2 linear feet)

Language:

English

Processed by:

Erinn Rhodes, 2018

Processing Note:

Items with “sticky notes” were scanned prior to the removal of the note. The scan is included along with original document to provide the content of the note as well as its position on the original document. One item has redactions, and two items have been removed from the collection due to personal information.

Biographical/Historical notes:

Virginia E. Bishop obtained her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 with a thesis on the mainstreaming of visually handicapped adults.  She became an Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches. She was the recipient of the 1996 Berthold Lowenfeld Award from the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired. She has numerous publications focused on services for blind or visually impaired children including Teaching the Visually Limited Child (1971), Teaching Visually Impaired Children (3rd edition 2004), and Mini-steps and Milestones: A history of services for young children who are blind or visually impaired (2006).  As a participant in the 24th International Seminar on Preschool Blind Children (2005), Bishop noted in the introduction to Mini-steps and Milestones that the decision was made at that conference to chronicle the history of the services for blind and visually impaired children.  It was through her research for this book, that she obtained the materials belonging to Sherry Raynor.

Sherry Raynor (1930-2007) was a pioneer in education for the blind and visually impaired in the preschool and infant/toddler age range. Her work originated in Lansing, Michigan in the 1970s where she developed a preschool program for visually impaired children age 2½ to 5 years that combined in-home teaching and family support with a center-based school. The program had been initially supported by a federal grant and was then adopted by the Ingham Intermediate School District. Her program became a model for other programs around the US, and Michigan State University used the site to train teachers. In 1975, she established the International Seminar on Preschool Blind Children, bringing together representatives from five projects for visually handicapped children in the preschool age range. Sherry Raynor moved to Perkins in 1979 and established the preschool program.  A federal grant subsequently allowed the development of the infant/toddler program for children age 0 to 3 years, and Sherry supervised this grant program as well. She remained at Perkins until 1983. Dissemination of Sherry’s training materials were initially supported by federal money as Project Outreach. In 1978, to continue to support development and sharing of materials, Sherry became one of the co-founders and first President of The International Institute for the Visually Impaired, 0-7, Inc., whose name was changed in 1984 to the Blind Children’s Fund.   

Sources of information:

American Foundation for the Blind. Accessed April 20, 2018

“BCF History.” Blind Children’s Fund.  Accessed April 27, 2018.

“Berthold Lowenfeld Inducted 2002.” American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. Hall of Fame Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field. Accessed April 27, 2018.

Bishop, Virginia E. Mini-Step and Milestones. A History of Services for Young Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired.  Watertown: Perkins School for the Blind, 2006.

Restrictions:

Access to documents with personal information are restricted. Please consult the supervising archivist for access.

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:

AG69 Virginia E. Bishop Sherry Raynor Collection. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.

Scope/Contents:

The collection includes correspondence, conference materials, manuscripts, publications, and documents belonging to Sherry Raynor, who was a faculty member at the Perkins School from 1979 to 1983.  They were collected by Virginia E. Bishop during research for a book on services for blind or visually impaired young children. Materials in the collection date from 1941 to 2005.

Items in Series 1 pertaining to the IIVI include documents relating to the founding of the program; early VIP newsletters and news bulletins; a 1989 summary document on the background of the Blind Children’s Fund (formerly IIVI), and notes for a speech Sherry Raynor was planning in 1998.  Please refer to related materials in Series 5, subseries 6.

Series 2 includes press releases from 1979 about the new preschool program at Perkins to be led by Sherry Raynor.  There are also copies of The Lantern, a Perkins publication, from 1980, 1981 and 1982 with stories about the preschool program.

Series 3 are a collection of materials that were originally stored in a black binder labeled “Bert L.”  The materials primarily include published and typed manuscripts of Berthold Lowenfeld (1901-1994), Director of Research for the American Foundation for the Blind from 1939 until 1949 and then Superintendent of the California School for the Blind until he retired in 1964.  The series includes a bibliography of Dr. Lowenfeld’s publications. It also includes handwritten and typed communications from Dr. Lowenfeld and Polly Moor.

Series 4 includes correspondence primarily focused on Project Outreach and the first planning summary of a New England Regional meeting for Parents of Young Blind and Visually Handicapped children. There is a copy of letter sent by Polly Moor to Governor Michael Dukakis in 1986.  Note that additional correspondence may also be found in other series.

Series 5 includes collections of Sherry Raynor’s items that are divided into subseries based on content.  Of note are materials in subseries 3 which include type summaries of some of the early International Seminars on Preschool Blind Children and a handwritten version of the “Statement of Advocacy” drafted at the Third International Seminar (1977).   A typewritten version of this Statement appears in Subseries 4. Subseries 5 consists primarily of correspondence regarding the initial incorporation of the International Institute for Visually Impaired Children, 0-7. Also included is an undated brochure for the Perkins School for the Blind Preschool Program.  

Series 6 are publications and handbooks dated from 1969 to 2005.  These include instructional materials for the preschool age child targeted at both the teacher and the parent and materials from Project Outreach (1978).  Some copies are signed including a copy of “their special needs: an action guide to working with blind residents of mental retardation facilities” (1977) by Sally Rogow and “Handbook of Special Education: Teaching the Visually Handicapped (1986) by Theresa Abang.   

Series 7 includes conference materials, primarily the conference proceedings, of a number of the key conferences on education of the visually handicapped that took place between 1976 and 1988.  These proceedings include the first 3 of the International Symposium on Visually Handicapped Infants and Young Children (1981, 1983 and 1983) that was sponsored by IIVI.

Arrangement:

The collection is housed in four boxes and is arranged in seven series, two of which have been further arranged in subseries.  The contents of each series or subseries have been arranged chronologically with the exception of Series 3 and the Subseries in Series 5 which retain original order.  

The following abbreviations are used:

• B1:F1 = Box 1: Folder 1
• ICEVH= International Council for Education of the Visually Handicapped
• I.I.V.I.= International Institute for the Visually Impaired, 0-7, Inc.
• NAPVI= National Association of Parents of Children with Visual Impairments

The Series are arranged as follows:

• Series 1: I.I.V.I., 1973-circa 1998
• Series 2: Perkins Preschool Program for the Blind, 1979-1982
• Series 3: Berthold Lowenfeld manuscripts and publications, circa 1941-1984
• Series 4: Correspondence, 1976-1986
• Series 5: Collected Items, 1954-1995
  • Subseries 1: Virginia Bishop inventory, undated
  • Subseries 2: Retrolental fibroplasia, 1981-1985
  • Subseries 3: International seminar on preschool blind children, circa 1977-1990
  • Subseries 4: Materials for daughter, circa 1954-1965
  • Subseries 5: Sherry Raynor personal references, circa 1981-1986
  • Subseries 6: International institute for visually impaired children, circa 1977-1995
  • Subseries 7: TV show script, 1977
  • Subseries 8: International materials, circa 1978-1985
• Series 6: Publications and handbooks, 1969-2005
• Series 7: Conference materials, 1976-1988
  • Subseries 1: ICEVH quinquennial, 1982-1992
  • Subseries 2: North American conference, 1978
  • Subseries 3: International symposium, 1976
  • Subseries 4: International symposium (I.I.V.I), 1981-1988
  • Subseries 5: NAPVI, circa 1986

Related collections:

AG68 Pauline Moor Collection. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.

Perkins Annual Reports, 1978-1984 on the Internet Archive

Container List:

Series 1:

• B1:F1: I.I.V.I., 1973-circa 1998

Series 2:

• B1:F2: Perkins Preschool Program for the Blind, 1979-1982

Series 3:

• B1:F3: Berthold Lowenfeld manuscripts and publications, circa 1963-1984
• B1:F4: Berthold Lowenfeld manuscripts and publications, circa 1941-1980

Series 4:

• B1:F5: Correspondence, 1976-1986

Series 5:

Subseries 1:

• B1:F6: Virginia Bishop inventory, undated

Subseries 2:

• B1:F7: Retrolental fibroplasia, 1981-1985

Subseries 3:

• B1:F8: International seminar on preschool blind children, circa 1977-1990

Subseries 4:

• B1:F9: Materials for daughter, circa 1954-1963
• B1:F10: Materials for daughter, circa 1954-1963

Subseries 5:

• B1:F11: Sherry Raynor personal references, circa 1981-1986

Subseries 6:

• B1: F12: International institute for visually impaired children, circa 1977-1995

Subseries 7:

• B1:F13: TV show script, 1977

Subseries 8:

• B1:F14: International materials, circa 1978-1985

Series 6:

• B2:F1: Publications and handbooks, 1969-1974
• B2:F2: Publications and handbooks, 1974-1977
• B2:F3: Publications and handbooks, 1978-1980
• B2:F4: Publications and handbooks, 1980-1982
• B2:F5: Publications and handbooks, 1986
• B2:F6: Publications and handbooks, 1986-2005

Series 7:

Subseries 1:

• B3:F1: ICEVH quinquennial, 1982
• B3:F2: ICEVH quinquennial, 1987-1992

Subseries 2:

• B3:F3: North American conference, 1978

Subseries 3:

• B3:F4: International symposium, 1976

Subseries 4:

• B3:F5: International symposium (I.I.V.I), 1981
• B3:F6: International symposium (I.I.V.I), 1983

Subseries 5:

• B4:F1: International symposium (I.I.V.I), 1988
• B4:F2: NAPVI, circa 1986

Provenance:

This collection was donated to Perkins Archives by Virginia E. Bishop in September 2008.

Subject headings:

• Perkins School for the Blind.
• Perkins School for the Blind–History.
• Bishop, Virginia E.
• Raynor, Sherry
• Lowenfeld, Berthold
• Children who are blind
• Teachers of people who are blind
• Preschool teachers