Forme du savoir, forme de pouvoir
|Troisième partie - La matérialité d'une forme
Blind’s Space
The "Atlas of the United States, Printed for the Use of the Blind" (1837)
Résumé
Dans cet essai, nous essaierons de reconstruire les événements qui ont conduit à la création de l’Atlas of the United States, Printed for the Use of the Blind [...] Under the Direction of Samuel Gridely Howe à Boston en 1837. Dans la première partie, l'accent est mis sur les protagonistes et les institutions américaines qui, dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle, se sont consacrés à l'assistance et à l'éducation des aveugles et, en particulier, à quelques innovations importantes dans la création d'un système d'écriture tactile et d'une nouvelle méthode de fabrication de livres et de cartes pour les aveugles. La seconde partie est consacrée à l'Atlas, analysé à la fois dans sa matérialité et dans sa manière de représenter l'espace. Enfin, dans la troisième partie, nous tentons de reconstruire la perception de l'espace, l'enseignement de la géo-histoire et l'utilisation de cartes (pas seulement de l'Atlas) analysant notamment le cas de l’aveugle et sourde-muette Laura Bridgman (1829-1889).
Entrées d'index
Texte intégral
1The Atlas of the United States, Printed for the Use of the Blind was published in Boston in 1837 at the NEIEB – the New England Institution for the Education of the Blind – at the expense of mecenate John C. Gray, an exponent of the Bostonians’ economic and political élite, under the direction of Samuel Gridely Howe. The latter was a 36-year-old American doctor, educator, philanthropist and abolitionist, who at the time already had an adventurous life behind him: after completing his medical studies at Harvard Medical School, at just 23 years old, he went to Greece to participate in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, following in the footsteps of his idol Lord Byron. At the end of the conflict in 1831, he returned to Boston, where he was welcomed home as a hero. That same year the founding committee of the NEIEB decided to entrust him with the direction of the institute.
- 1 Thanks to Jean-Marc Besse and Zina Weygand. Thanks also to Jen Hale, archivist of the « Perkins sch (...)
2The NEIEB was founded in 1829, in a climate characterized by the spiritual and intellectual movement called the New England Renaissance, within which some « reformers, led by Boston’s Unitarians, were taking up the causes of people with disabilities and disadvantages1 ». Among these reformers was John D. Fisher, a doctor who in 1826 had visited the Institut national des jeunes aveugles of Valentin Hauy in Paris, and remained deeply impressed. It was Fisher who initiated the birth of the new institute for the blind in Boston, and he included Howe in the enterprise by offering him the position of Director.
- 2 Ibid., p. 10.
- 3 Klages 1999, p. 34.
- 4 Baynton 2002, p. 228.
3To get ready, Howe spent the better part of a year visiting European schools and institutions for the blind (Vantin Hauy’s was the first) and bringing certain ideas and observations back to Boston that « became the foundation for much of the current thinking and ideals regarding special education2 ». Thus a new education project for the blind was born. Howe « first attempted to “normalize” the idea that blindness does not affect any important aspect of human existence, and by insisting, in his school curriculum and training programs, that the blind body could be a site of productive labor just like the sighted body3 » ; furthermore, as a Unitarian, « he hoped to demonstrate [...] that human beings were inborn rather than contingent upon sensory experience, as opposed to sensationalist philosophers such as Condillac4 ».
4Among the many initiatives undertaken by Howe, there was also that of creation of a tactile writing system (known as the Boston line letter: an angular type with minus capital letters) for the blind (and, in particular, for the approximately 60 students of the Institute). He also printed some books in raised letters and an Atlas of Geography.
- 5 « This desirable acquisition has been obtained without encroaching upon the funds, by means of con (...)
- 6 Annual Report 1836, p. 12.
5An account of these advances and innovations can be read in the Annual Reports of the Trustees of the New England Institution for the Education of the Blind. In the 1835 edition, for example, he communicated that « the Institution is now provided with a printing-press, and the whole of the books of the Acts of the Apostles has been printed5 ». The following year the Report reported that Howe « made important improvements in the system of printing for the blind. By his own exertions he has raised funds for erecting a complete press, constructed on a novel and very ingenious plan, by Mr. S. P. Ruggles. Several books compiled by Dr. Howe himself, and accommodated to the wants of the Blind, have been already printed6 ».
- 7 Ruggles 1849, p. 434-435.
6Stephen Preston Ruggles was an important « technical » figure: his were certainly the innovations produced in these years (types, printing presses, paper suitable and resistant etc.). A writing from 1849 reads, « Books for the blind, as they were made in Europe, were bulky and unwieldly, as well as costly; with quick perception he very soon ascertained that he could produce a type of less size and less height of face, which the blind could read as well, if not better, than the old-fashioned kind ». Then, « after many trials and experiments with the strongest printing-presses in use, and after breaking two of them […] he was obliged to invent and build a more powerful press of an entirely new construction […] ». However later, « after succeeding in the construction, both of his type and press, a new and unexpected difficulty presented itself. There was no paper to be found properly adapted for the purpose of this kind of printing or embossing. That which was hard enough would break through, and be rough, when embossed or printed […] However, after many experiments on the manufacture of paper with gums, resins, and gelatin, he produced a paper stiff and hard, like parchment […] ». And finally, « after perfecting the new method of printing books, Mr Ruggles next invented a new method of making maps for the blind, which proved eminently successful. This he accomplished by a raised character similar to his type, but arranged with such combinations that at a trifling expense he could produce a succession of maps of any size and of any country. Maps made in this manner were never before known, and the Perkins Institution in Boston immediately issued an Atlas of the United States, and a General Atlas 7 ».
7The 1836 Report returned back to the subject: the main obstacle, « to the easy and cheap instruction of the blind, was the want of books in raised letters […] In France the difficulty has been partially overcome, by the liberality of the Government, and several works have been printed. But in England, it has and still does exist ». However:
- 8 Annual Report 1836, p. 14-15.
[…] much more has to be done in this country ; our Director [Howe] has been indefatigable in his efforts to forward an enterprise which concerns not only the blind of our own school, but of the whole country. By introducing a new alphabet, and various improvements in printing, he ascertained that books might be printed at one fourth the cost and size of those of Europe, and then proposed to print a series of books for the blind of the United States generally. The enterprise was entirely his own, and all that has been done, he has affected without any assistance from our treasury. He has raised funds to carry on the printing office, from various sources, some of which should be mentioned […] John C. Gray, also, of this City, has given $300, for the purpose of printing an edition of maps and statistical tables of the United States8.
8This is the first reference to an atlas of geographical maps « in the form of a book »:
- 9 Annual Report 1836, p. 16-17.
The Atlas and Geography referred to, have been finished; the Atlas is upon an original plan, and is believed to be the first attempt ever made to give to the blind maps in the form of a book. All those imported from Europe, are on boards, and made by an expensive and tedious process, by hand. A map of Massachusetts, for example, executed in the European manner, would be on a heavy board, would show but very few places, and cost five dollars. Moreover, it could not be understood by a blind person, without the assistance of seeing person. But executed on the plan invented by Dr. Howe, it would show many more places, cost less than six pence, and be perfectly intelligible to a blind person, unassisted by a seeing one. The Geography (which was written by the Director, expressly for the blind) contains as full account of all the different countries upon the globe, as is found in small school geographies. Heretofore, the method of teaching geography, to the blind, has been by oral lectures, and by a seeing person naming the different countries and places which the pupil felt upon the map. But now, a class can take their geographies, study a lesson, and then recite precisely as seeing children; while, by aid of the new Atlas, which has the names of the places stamped upon it, and statistical tables in the margin, they get an idea of the outline and shape of countries, the courses of rivers, &c9.
9And again of note:
- 10 Annual Report 1836, p. 17.
Those who are practically acquainted with the method of teaching the blind, and the apparatus used in Europe, will perceive the importance of this invention of an Atlas. It may be considered as an interesting epoch in the history of the education of the blind. The first map printed in this way were not well executed, and when tried in the European Institutions, could not be understood except by the most forward pupils, but those executed since, are so clear and distinct, that no difficulty remains for any blind who can read10.
- 11 Proceedings 1873, p. 47.
10There remains the not-yet-solved problem of the authorship of these « inventions »: undoubtedly it is Howe who managed, applied and disseminated these innovations; but what was the role of Ruggles? The dispute between the two exploded and reached its climax in the seventies of the nineteenth century, occupying several pages of Proceedings of the Annual Meetings of the American Association of Instructors of the Blind11. This is not the place to retrace the controversy. What is certain is that in the 1830s, the NEIEB put new techniques, materials and methods in place for a radical renewal of the education of the blind.
The Atlas of the United States
- 12 A third edition was printed in 1838 with the title An Atlas of the Principal Islands of the Globe (...)
11The one mentioned in the last Report is a first edition of the Atlas which, in reality, has the title A Geographical and Statistical Description of the Earth, and the Various Countries upon Its Surface by S. G. Howe. Executed by S. P. Ruggles. In 1837 the second, better, edition will be printed which, as we have seen, put to good use a new tactile writing system, a new way of printing and a new geographical maps for blind. It is this edition upon which we will focus our analysis12.
- 13 We consulted the edition reproduced on : www.davidrumsey.com (last consultation: January 2020). T (...)
12The Atlas is presented as a book in quarto, in large format, made up of 51 uncoated sheets printed on one side13. Without ink in the book, the text and maps are heavy paper embossed with Boston lines letters and symbols. The text is inserted within a series of equidistant parallel lines. In addition to the title page and two introduction pages, the atlas includes 24 state maps with a page of text describing each state.
13In the first page (fig. 1) we find the complete title: Atlas of the United States, Printed for the Use of the Blind, at the Expense of John C. Cray; Under the Direction of S.G. Howe. at the N.E. Institution for the Education of the Blind. Boston 1837. After the Introduction (on which we will return), there are 24 raised maps, each followed by a page of explanatory text. The succession of the represented states starts with the North and continues clockwise, descending from the Atlantic Coast, going back to the internal states: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware, Virginia and Maryland, District of Columbia, North & South Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan.
Fig. 1 – Frontispiece of the Atlas of the United States…, Boston 1837 (© David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries).

14Particularly interesting are the two introduction pages, written in April 1837, in which Howe explains the aims and characteristics of the work. As a premise, he talks about the difficulties in teaching geography to the blind:
- 14 Howe 1837, f.n.n. (but f. 2r e 3r).
It is known that the contrivances hither to use in Europe for the instruction of the blind in geography, are very expensive, rude & imperfect, hardly deserving the name of maps. They were made by hand, either by puncturing through a common map the boundaries &c. or by first pasting a map upon a board, & then gluing upon it, strings or bits of pasteboard, to represent boundaries, riverse, &c. There was no lettering, & no printed explanations, so that the blind could not tell by themselves, whether the portion they placed the finger upon was to represent one part of the globe or another; they required to be taught upon each map, by a seeing person14.
- 15 Howe 1837, f. 2r.
15From here, the solutions implemented at the NEIEB: « The first attempt at embossing maps, was made at this institution. After many expensive experiments a method of printing them was devised ; & an atlas, the first of the kind, was published. It has been found a source of great pleasure & useful knowledge to the blind, who can study it unassisted by a seeing person15. »
- 16 Howe 1837, f. 2r.
16As we have seen, this second edition presents better characteristics than the previous one: « The present atlas – writes Howe – will be found to be superior to the first, in the clearness & strength of the impression, & in the advantage of representing a smaller extent of country on the square inch. It will give the blind the means of knowing the general outline, shape, & boundaries of each state; the rivers, principal towns, population & general statistics of the whole16. »
- 17 Howe 1837, f. 3r.
17He could not fail to thank those who had financed the operation: « It is the munificent gift of mr John C. Gray, to that class of his fellow beings who are deprived of sight. His reward will be the consciousness of making many a sad heart, glad; & of filling up many a blank hour with pleasing & useful occupations. His gift supplies to them, as far as the geography of the United States goes, a most valuable source of knowledge. May his example be imitated by others, until the blind shall have all amelioration to their condition, which human ingenuity, prompted by benevolence, can effect17. »
- 18 Howe 1837, f. 3r.
18The following few lines in the Explanation in which Howe also cites the technical intervention of Ruggles: « The blind reader will observe that the present maps are far superior to those first composed & published by me: for this improvement & for many others in printing, I am indebted to the ingenuity of Mr. S. P. Ruggles .» And, finally, the explanation of some abbreviations: « The contractions are, n for North, s for South, e East, w West. The figures on the top & bottom mark the longitude from Washington. Those on the sides the latitude. When a river is mentioned the towns are named successively ascending the river. t after figures denotes, thousands, m. millions, st. is for saint. u.s.United States. r is for river. The other contractions will be easily understood18. »
19The maps seem to be original, designed (and simplified) expressly for this Atlas. The panels report the longitude and latitude (sometimes together, sometimes only one or the other). Not all of the maps have a title: when it is missing, it is easily obtained from the text or the description of the map. Text fields can be both horizontal and vertical. The stairs are not homogeneous: ranging from a minimum of 15 miles (as for the District of Columbia) to a maximum of 60 miles (South Carolina and Georgia), with maps also of 15, 30 and, above all, 50 miles. Rivers are represented with lines; the seas and lakes with a plot of horizontal lines; the mountains with symbols that look like pine needles. Finally, the borders are made with a dotted line.
20But let's try to « consult » our Atlas by examining the first of the maps reproduced: the Map of Maine (fig. 2). The map shows a frame in which latitudinal and longitudinal data is shown. The orientation is with the North at the top. Coasts and rivers are indicated with continuous lines ; the lakes are filled, like the sea, by horizontal parallel lines. Points are used for cities; a dotted line for the borders of states. There is no title: the texts written in full are reserved only on the scale (of 50 miles), the Atlantic Ocean and the states of New Hampshire, Lower Canada, Maine, New Brunswick. For all other toponyms, abbreviations are used.
Fig. 2 – Map of Maine frome the Atlas of the United States…, Boston 1837 (© David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries).

- 19 Howe 1837, f. 5r.
21It’s the Explanation on the following page that gives us valuable insight into how Howe imagined blind people should consult maps19. The incipit is illuminating: « You feel the eastern boundary line running north & south: it is not terminated on the north because its extent is yet in dispute with great britain; on the north, the line of dots terminates at grand lake, marked gl. The boundary continues through the center of the lakes & down the river st croix until it reaches the ocean. »
22These are the precise instructions that guide a tactile reading of the paper; we can imagine a student who first reads the explanations, memorizes them and, after turning the page, search and feels the lines, abbreviations, text on the paper. Then follow the explanations of the contractions; for example: « st. j. R. is St. John's river »; or: « b. is for Brunswick; the dot below is Belfast », etc. The last part, on the other hand, provides geographical and historical information: « This state is as extensive as all the rest of New England: it has many lakes abounding in fish; & rivers with fine falls: first settlement in 1628: in 1651 it was attached to massachusetts; in 1820 it became an independent state, & member of the union. Sq. m. 32,000. Pop. near half a million […]. »
- 20 About blindness and perception of the space see Eriksson 2008.
23All the maps in the Atlas more or less follow this scheme and all are made with this representative technique, very similar to those used today. However, to have an even more precise idea of how the Atlas was used – and, in particular, of how maps were used within the teaching of geography – we can resort to an exceptional testimony, that of one of the most famous students of the NEIEB: Laura Dewey Bridgman20.
Blindness, representation and perception of space
24Born in 1829, Laura Dewey Bridgman became deaf, dumb, and blind, without smell, and with imperfect taste at the age of two due to scarlet fever:
- 21 Account 1843, p. 4-5. About Laura Bridgman see Gitter 2001 and also Freeburg 2001.
The sense of touch alone remains… As soon as she was able to walk, Laura began to explore the room, and then the house; she became familiar with the form density, weight, and heat… She followed her mother, felt her hands and arms… She even learned to sew a little, and to knit. The means of communication with her, however, were very limited; she could only be told to go to a place by being pushed [...] Patting her gently on the head signified approbation; on the back, the contrary […] She showed every disposition to learn, and evidently began to use a natural language of her own; she had a sign to express her idea of each member of the family21.
- 22 Account 1843, p. 6.
- 23 Annual Report 1837, p. 9-10.
25In 1837, Howe learns about Laura's situation (and her remarkable intelligence) and rushes to meet her ; struck by the girl's potential, he convinces her parents to let Laura enter the NEIEB. Here, « the attempt was made to give her new knowledge of arbitrary signs, by which she could interchange thoughts with others. The first experiments were made by taking the articles in common use, such as knives, forks, spoons, keys, &c., and pasting upon them labels, with their names embossed in raised letters22 ». The results are immediate. Already in the 1837 Report information is given about her entrance to the Institute and of Laura’s progress, defined « a very pretty, intelligent, and sprightly girl […] nevertheless it is active, and struggling continually not only to put itself in communication with things without, but to manifest what is going on within itself […] She then learned the arrangement of letters in the alphabet, and is now occupied in increasing her vocabulary of words23 ».
- 24 « Howe raised money for the school by exhibiting Bridgman […] She had several advantages as an exh (...)
- 25 Very interesting also the Laura Bridgman’s Journals and the Teacher Journals, at the « Perkins Sch (...)
- 26 Lamson 1884 (but also Account 1843).
26Laura will quickly become famous (predating Helen Keller)24 and several books will be published on the modality and progress of her education25. One of these in particular gives us many details about the use of the maps: the Life and Education of Laura Dewey Bridgman […] by her Teacher Mary Swift Lamson26.
27Beginning in 1840, Lamson – as she explains herself – was a teacher for five years in the « Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind » and was the special instructor of Laura Bridgman for three years. Her job was to teach the entire class and the Laura separately. As far as the map is concerned, we know that first the students were prepped with Mitchell’s Geographical Reader (an auxiliary wrote in 1840 by S. Augustus Mitchell to Mitchell’s School Geography and Atlas, a reading book for schools, and likewise to be read in classes) ; secondly, the students began to use the maps. But let’s trace the inception of Laura’s study of geography via maps through Lawson’s account.
- 27 Lamson 1884, p. 138-141.
- 28 Lamson 1884, p. 141-143
- 29 Account 1843, p. 98.
28On January 30, 1843, « her first lesson in geography was upon the points of the compass. She had some idea of the four cardinal ones, and she learned in addition those between them27 ». The next day, « finding she understood the points of the compass, and could point in any direction I required, after having been placed with her face to the North. I gave her an exercise in bounding the room we were in, and others round it […]28 ». And yet: « having first acquired an idea of the points of the compass, and taken some preliminary lessons by bounding her school-room, the chambers, entries, &c., and then going out into the premises, bounding the house and yard, she was then put to a map29 ». The lessons begin, therefore, with an orientation closely linked to the perception of one's body and one's environment, although our teacher does not yet explain that Laura is able to use a compass to independently determine North.
29On February 2nd, during a geography lesson, Laura asked to Lamson « to teach her “above”, meaning the chambers. She bounded all the rooms on the second floor, and remembered all of yesterday’s lessons without going to the room. » The next day, « she bounded the house, with a little help. Talked with her about the Point, to try to give her an idea of it, but failed. » It is evident that any attempt to increase the level of abstraction and to abandon the orientation linked to one’s body is bound to fail. This link between the material perception of the body and the representation of space, even geographic, is evident when Laura, on February 8th, while explaining “islands” to her, said laughing: “Eyes are very full of tears: are they islands”?
- 30 « This modified map of Boston for use by the blind is a traditional map that has been mounted onto (...)
- 31 Lamson 1884, p. 149.
- 32 Lamson 1884, p. 156.
- 33 Lamson 1884, p. 166.
- 34 Lamson 1884, p. 188.
30The first lesson on one the maps « prepared in raised lines for the use of the blind » was on February the 9th. The map was Boston and Vicinity (fig. 3), a map that we do not have any information about and that was most likely created by Howe, in the 1830s, by modifying a traditional map30. « Commenced –teacher writes – by telling her where Boston and Charles River were and then attempted to give her the idea that the map was small, and we had not room to put on it all that was on the other map » on the 22 of February « found that she was studying her geography with a thorough understanding of it. Some days since she had learned to bound West Cambridge ; and today, when asked to bound Lexington, she traced it on the map until she got to the south, and then took off her hands and said, “I must think the south” and in an instant told me, “By West Cambridge”31. » At the beginning of March, after a month of these lessons, Laura’s progress was impressive: « she enjoyed tracing the routes which the blind scholars take to go to their homes32 » and, at the beginning of April, « she is familiar with its large towns, rivers, lakes, and mountains » and « showed her where her mother lived33 ». After six months at the beginning of August, Laura has completed « the States, the boundaries, capitals, rivers, and towns »: the teacher decide to « shall go over them again, teaching her the productions, climate, objects of interest, etc.34 ». The teacher does not say it but it’s clear that in this case, Laura studied our map of the United States.
Fig. 3 – [Map of Boston for the use of the blind], about 1830 (© Samuel P. Hayes Research Library, Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA).
![Fig. 3 – [Map of Boston for the use of the blind], about 1830 (© Samuel P. Hayes Research Library, Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA).](docannexe/image/27277/img-3-small517.jpg)
- 35 Account 1843, p. 102.
- 36 « The Perkins Globe was made by Steven Preston Ruggles in 1837. It is probably the first terrestri (...)
31What appears, however, from these descriptions seems to be an orientation in space closely linked to a dimension limited to cartographic representation: Laura is basically limited to applying a method and to « feel » and « think » of large spaces within the limits of a map. Sometimes, hers seems more like a mnemonic game: « found to my surprise – teacher writes – that Laura could bound all the towns I had taught her, without the map35 ». Confirmation of this happens when (about a year after the beginning of her lectures, at the end of December) Laura reads a « very large globe, thirteen feet in circumference, which stands in the circular hall of entrance36 » ; the success of Laura on the map, in fact, made the teacher « desirous of testing her upon this ». Here is an account of the experience:
- 37 Lamson 1884, p. 219.
I supposed that the convex surface trouble her, and the raised lines were also different from those to which she was accustomed on the maps, but she was pleased when told she should have the rest of her lesson upon it. Her first remark was, “it is too very large.” This expression was not a usual one, but neither qualifying word adequately expressed her idea of its size, so she used both. I placed her hand on the Russian Possession in North America, and moved it to Mexico, to give her an idea of the scale of distance. I then asked her to find the Gulf of Mexico, Hudson’s Bay, etc., which she did at once, and indeed she found every place I called for, even to Boston. The blind children have never been able to do much on this globe in the first day’s lesson, and I looked on with astonishment to see her fingers move so rapidly, scarce touching anything apparently but the spot called for37.
32At this point the information given by Mary Swift Lamson ends: no other important mention is published in Laura Bridgman's « geography » lessons. In the end, the relationship between the latter and the map seems to have been limited to a mnemonic and notional use in which the idea of space remains limited to the materiality of the body and the map. Perhaps because Laura, besides being blind, was also deaf and dumb ? The in-depth study of the Bridgman Journals and its teachers, in addition to the analysis of other case studies of the same period, may perhaps give an answer to this question.
Conclusions
33The technical and didactic innovations implemented in middle of the nineteenth-century by Samuel Gridely Howe and Stephen Preston Ruggles, in what would become the Perkins School for the Blind, constitute a contribution of exceptional value in the education process for the blind and partially sighted. In particular, in the case of the Atlas we analyzed, the technique of creating geographical maps with text and maps represents an innovation whose validity continues today. The sources on education (especially those relating to Laura Bridgman) have allowed us to finally have an idea of the use of maps and the ways of perceiving geographical space during a given historical moment. In our opinion, this last aspect may represent a small essay on a line of historical research that considers perceptions and representations from a point of observation that has not been studied enough until now: that of the blind and their way of feeling and thinking about space.
Bibliographie
Account 1843 = An account of Laura Bridgman, of Boston, Massachusetts. A Blind, Deaf, and Dumb Girl […], London, 1843.
Annual Report 1835-1839 = Annual Report of the Trustees of the New England Institution for the Education of the Blind, Boston, 1835-1839.
Baynton 2002 = D. C. Baynton, Laura Bridgman and the History of Disability, in Reviews in American History, 30, 2, 2002, p. 227-235.
Eriksson 2008 = Y. Eriksson, Images tactiles. Représentations picturales pour les aveugles (1784-1940), Talant, 2008.
Farrell 1993 = B. G. Farrell, Elite Families. Class and Power in Nineteenth-Century Boston, Albany, 1993.
Freeburg 2001 = E. Freeburg, The Education of Laura Bridgman: First Deaf and Blind Person to Learn Language, Cambridge, 2001.
French 2004 = K. French, Perkins School for the Blind, Charleston, Chicago, Portsmouth, San Francisco, 2004.
Gitter 2001 = E. Gitter. The Imprisoned Guest: Samuel Howe and Laura Bridgman, The Original Deaf-Blind Girl, New York, 2001.
Howe 1837 = S. G. Howe, Atlas of the United states, Printed for the use of the Blind, at the expense of John C. Cray; under the direction of S. G. Howe. at the N. E. Institution for the Education of the Blind, Boston, 1837.
Klages 1999 = M. Klages, Woeful Afflictions: Disability and Sentimentality in Victorian America, Philadelphia, 1999.
Lamson 1884 = M. S. Lamson, Life and education of Laura Dewey Bridgman, the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Girl, Boston, 1884.
Proceedings 1873 = Proceedings of the first meeting of the American Association of Instructors of the Blind, held at the Perkins Institution for the Blind…, Boston, 1873.
Ruggles 1849 = Extract from the American Cabinet and Boston Athenaeum, 1849, cit. in Stephen Preston Ruggles, Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 16, May 1880-Jun 1881, p. 433-435.
Trent 2012 = J. W. Trent, The Manliest Man: Samuel G. Howe and the Contours of Nineteenth-century American Reform, Boston, 2012.
Weygand 2003 = Z. Weygand, Vivre sans voir. Les aveugles dans la société française, du Moyen Âge au siècle de Louis Braille, Paris, 2003.
Notes
1 Thanks to Jean-Marc Besse and Zina Weygand. Thanks also to Jen Hale, archivist of the « Perkins school for the blind », and Margo Lynch, for the translation from Italian of this text.
French 2004, p. 9.
2 Ibid., p. 10.
3 Klages 1999, p. 34.
4 Baynton 2002, p. 228.
5 « This desirable acquisition has been obtained without encroaching upon the funds, by means of contributions raised by the Director [Howe] » ; and that « as the Institution is now in possession of a press, and a complete set of types, it will be able to go on printing books at a comparatively small expense, and may, in a short time, have a better library for the blind, than anyone in existence » (Annual Report 1835, p. 14).
6 Annual Report 1836, p. 12.
7 Ruggles 1849, p. 434-435.
8 Annual Report 1836, p. 14-15.
9 Annual Report 1836, p. 16-17.
10 Annual Report 1836, p. 17.
11 Proceedings 1873, p. 47.
12 A third edition was printed in 1838 with the title An Atlas of the Principal Islands of the Globe for the Use of the Blind. All three editions, printed in Boston (the first two at the NEIEB, the third at the « Institution for the education of the blind ») are in the Perkins School for the Blind archives. During the previous years, was realised also a map of the city of Boston and a globe (see infra). In the same Report of 1838 there is also a List of the books from our press in which is the Atlas of the United States ($2,00) and an Atlas of the principal Islands on the globe, with Statistical Tables ($2,00) ; for a comparison, the New Testament, complete, 2 vols, was $12,00 (Annual Report 1839, p. 12).
13 We consulted the edition reproduced on : www.davidrumsey.com (last consultation: January 2020). The cover is quarter bound with brown leather and marbled paper-covered boards. Spine has worn illegible embossed text. For David Rumsey 50 copies are realized, and today are still five.
14 Howe 1837, f.n.n. (but f. 2r e 3r).
15 Howe 1837, f. 2r.
16 Howe 1837, f. 2r.
17 Howe 1837, f. 3r.
18 Howe 1837, f. 3r.
19 Howe 1837, f. 5r.
20 About blindness and perception of the space see Eriksson 2008.
21 Account 1843, p. 4-5. About Laura Bridgman see Gitter 2001 and also Freeburg 2001.
22 Account 1843, p. 6.
23 Annual Report 1837, p. 9-10.
24 « Howe raised money for the school by exhibiting Bridgman […] She had several advantages as an exhibit, chief among them that she was young, female, and pretty […] Pity and wonder were perhaps the most important ingredients in her attraction, but she held other fascinations for at least some of her visitors. Philosophers, theologians, and scholars, along with poets and writers such as Carlyle, Dickens […] came to observe this experiment in human nature, while phrenologists examined her cranium to chart the progress of her education » (Baynton 2002, p. 229).
25 Very interesting also the Laura Bridgman’s Journals and the Teacher Journals, at the « Perkins School for the Blind » Archives.
26 Lamson 1884 (but also Account 1843).
27 Lamson 1884, p. 138-141.
28 Lamson 1884, p. 141-143
29 Account 1843, p. 98.
30 « This modified map of Boston for use by the blind is a traditional map that has been mounted onto a thick board, cut out, and glued onto a green colored board. Streets, wharves, and some landmarks stand above the background (Samuel P. Hayes Research Library, Perkins School for the Blind, in « Perkins Tactile Maps Collection », www.flickr.com/photos/perkinsarchive/sets/72157658605773326 (last consultation: January 2020).
31 Lamson 1884, p. 149.
32 Lamson 1884, p. 156.
33 Lamson 1884, p. 166.
34 Lamson 1884, p. 188.
35 Account 1843, p. 102.
36 « The Perkins Globe was made by Steven Preston Ruggles in 1837. It is probably the first terrestrial globe made for use by the blind in America. It is 13 feet in circumference and made from over 700 pieces of wood. It has twice been restored, once in 1940 and again in 2004. The comprehensive restoration in 2004 included structural restoration by Schiff Architectural Detail and surface restoration by Daedalus, Inc. » (Perkins Globe: Historic Images, Restoration, and Paint Analysis, www.flickr.com/photos/perkinsarchive/collections/72157655511492173/, last consultation: January 2020).
37 Lamson 1884, p. 219.
Table des illustrations
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Titre | Fig. 1 – Frontispiece of the Atlas of the United States…, Boston 1837 (© David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries). |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/efr/docannexe/image/27277/img-1.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 532k |
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Titre | Fig. 2 – Map of Maine frome the Atlas of the United States…, Boston 1837 (© David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries). |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/efr/docannexe/image/27277/img-2.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 965k |
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Titre | Fig. 3 – [Map of Boston for the use of the blind], about 1830 (© Samuel P. Hayes Research Library, Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA). |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/efr/docannexe/image/27277/img-3.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 440k |
Le texte et les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont sous Licence OpenEdition Books, sauf mention contraire.