THE BLIND IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 



By Agnes Laidlaw Vaughan 



THE work with the bhnd in the Ameri- 

 can Museum began in 1909. Sev- 

 eral members of the Museum staff 

 had given lectures on natural 

 history to clubs and gatherings of blind people 

 and had been granted permission to use some 

 of the Museum material for illustration. The 

 experience was so interesting that it suggested 

 to Dr. Hermon C. Bumpus, then director of 

 the Museum, the possibility of special work 

 for the blind in the Museum, and the trustees 

 authorized the preparation of a room to con- 

 tain collections of interest to blind visitors. 



Casual blind visitors to the Museum are 

 rare however, and after testing for two years 

 the practicality of a special exhibit, we de- 

 cided to remove it and make an arrangement 

 whereby the instructors could meet blind 

 visitors and show them specimens in the 

 exhibition halls. In many instances the 

 specimens were taken out of the cases for 

 examination, and where this was not possible, 

 as in many of the ethnographical exhibits, the 

 visitors were taken to the storage study col- 

 lections. 



The Ziegler Blind Magazine, through the 

 courtesy of its editor, Mr. Walter Holmes, 

 published notices of the welcome extended to 

 blind visitors and of the facilities for seeing 

 the collections. The information was sent 

 also to the Public Library for the Blind, to 

 the public schools, and to all the institutions 

 for the blind in or near New York. The 

 response was slight as regards numbers but 

 large in enthusiasm, and the comments of the 

 visitors were often amusing as well as stimu- 

 lating. One of a group of young women 

 "seeing" a hippopotamus called, "My! 

 Annie, just come here. This is the Jionieliest 

 beast you ever saw! Why, he's a block 

 long!" Another woman remarked, "I lost 

 my sight when I was sixteen and I remember 

 lots of things, but I never noticed till now 

 that the knee of the ostrich was way up like 

 this. I think seeing peop'e don't half use 

 their eyes." One recalls this last comment 

 frequently when showing objects to the blind, 

 and notes the concentration and observation 

 of detail which are often closer in them than 

 in the sighted visitor. 



During the first year the work with the 

 blind was experimental and more or less 



spasmodic. In 1910 however, its develop- 

 ment and extension were made possible 

 through the bequest of Phebe Anna Thorne, 

 and gifts in her name by her brothers, Jona- 

 than and Samuel Thorne. This generous 

 endowment, known as the Jonathan Thorne 

 Memorial Fund, provides a fixed income 

 which enables the Museum to supply trans- 

 portation for the blind and their guides to and 

 from the Museum; to send loan collections to 

 schools in the vicinity of New York; and to 

 give illustrated lectures in the Museum to 

 school children and to the adult blind. 



The subjects of these lectures have in- 

 cluded several on natural history and ethnol- 

 ogy. One on ancient Peru consisted partly 

 of readings from Prescott's Peru. The audi- 

 ence was deeply interested to learn that 

 Prescott was blind when he wrote this famous 

 book. Among the objects illustrating this 

 lecture were some fine examples of Peruvian 

 pottery. These were later reproduced in clay 

 by one of the blind girls. A talk on the songs 

 of North American Indians was illustrated 

 by unique phonograph records taken among 

 the Dakota, Blackfoot and other tribes, and 

 by musical instruments and other related 

 objects. 



In the audience was a striking group con- 

 sisting of a class of blind-deaf from an institu- 

 tion for the deaf. There were five pupils, two 

 of whom could hear if they sat directly in front 

 of the speaker, accompanied by two teachers, 

 one deaf and one normal. The latter inter- 

 preted the lecture by finger language on the 

 hand of one pupil and by lip movement, aided 

 by the fingers of her free hand, to the other 

 teacher, who passed on the words by means 

 of her fingers to the other two girls. All of 

 these blind-deaf had been taught to speak 

 and they asked many intelligent questions 

 during the course of the discussion and 

 "finger-view" of the objects. 



This year the plans for thorough organiza- 

 tion have matured. We are now engaged in 

 making a census of all the blind people in and 

 near New York City, for which a mailing list 

 will be prepared with the assistance of the 

 New York Association for the Blind and the 

 New Jersey State Commission. A letter has 

 been sent to each person on this list, enclosing 

 a post card to be filled out and returned. 



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