Deaf Cultural Resource Center
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Resources
    • History
    • Organizations
    • Literature
    • Programming
    • Communication Tips
  • Reviews
  • Annual Events
    • Anniversaries >
      • Birth Anniversaries
      • Historical Events
      • Library Milestones
    • Deaf Related Events
    • General Interest Events
    • Calendar
  • Contact
Picture

Deaf History

You will find a chronology of important people and events on our Birth Anniversaries and Historical Events page.  The page you are reading now offers broader discussions on significant people, places, issues, and events in history.

Gallaudet Trivia

2/10/2020

0 Comments

 
What year did the Columbia Institution for the Deaf change its name to Gallaudet College by an Act of Congress (Public Law 420)?

Answer: June 18, 1954  ---  90 years after the signing of the Congressional charter by US President Abraham Lincoln that authorized and enacted a college for the deaf on April 8, 1864. 

Before 1954, the Columbia Institution for the Deaf was comprised of both Gallaudet College and Kendall School for the Deaf.  In 1986 Gallaudet College becomes Gallaudet University when President Ronald Reagan signs the Education of the Deaf (Public Law 99-371).

In 1996, Pre-College National Mission Program was formed as an umbrella to cover the University's preschool programs, the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, other pre-college research and teaching units, and all their associated buildings and other facilities.  It is renamed the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center in 2000.  
 
Source: Gallaudet University Spirits Class of 1957 "Chronological List of Dates: Gallaudet University" 2007

The First School for the Deaf: District of Columbia

February 16, 1857 - The founding of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and the Blind, authorized by an Act of Congress:  Founding President: Amos Kendall (hearing)May 30, 1857 – First superintendent of the Institution appointed: Edward Miner Gallaudet (CODA -- hearing Child of Deaf Adult)
June 13, 1857 – Institution opens with 14 children from the D.C, including 5 deaf orphans originally from New York City, a total of nine deaf children and five blind children
July 13, 1857 – First matron of the Institution appointed: Sophia Fowler Gallaudet (deaf)
August 1, 1857 – First instructor appointed for the Institution and later first principal of its Primary Department in 1864: James Denison (deaf)
In 1885 – The Primary Department is formally renamed the Kendall School in honor of Amos Kendall
June 18, 1954 – the Institution is renamed Gallaudet College by an Act of Congress and Kendall School becomes its division. 
In 1996, The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center was formed as an umbrella to cover Gallaudet University's preschool programs, the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, other pre-college research and teaching units, and all their associated buildings and other facilities.
http://www3.gallaudet.edu/clerc-center.html
0 Comments

Libraries and Archives Enrich Lives!

2/10/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Abbé Charles Michel de l’Épée
DC resident, Jean Boutcher, a well-known Deaf artist, loves going to the library. One day in 1985, a new book on library display caught her eye -- "When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf," by Harlan Lane, published in 1984. For the first time, she said she truly learned about the history of deaf education and sign language even though she had been a student in a school for the deaf. As she read the book and discovered Abbé Charles Michel de l'Épée, the founder of the very first school for the deaf in the world, she was inspired! Using the black and white picture of him from the book as her only reference, she created the color painting of him.   Source:  "Jean Boutcher, Deaf Artist" Laurent Clerc and Gallaudet University: FOLDA KIT 2013


Statue
The statue of Abbé de l'Épée located at the St. Mary's School for the Deaf in Buffalo, NY. The sculptor was Eugene E. Hannan, a former student at the Kendall School and a member of the Gallaudet class of 1901. 

0 Comments

Washington Monument

2/10/2020

0 Comments

 
Gallaudet Students
In 1934, seven Gallaudet students touched the top of the Washington monument via a 500-foot elevator ride and 55 feet of climbing ladders.  At that time, the monument was wrapped in scaffolding while workers repaired lightning damage.  The students obtained permission to ascend the scaffolding in the workmen's elevator. They then climbed the last 55 feet up a narrow ladder to the top. They could see where repairmen were working to seal a large crack running for about 25 feet down the side of the monument. Five students were from the Gallaudet class of 1939, one from 1936 and the other 1937.
Click here for more information.
Picture
History
The construction for this monument began in 1848; it was finally completed in 1884.  The reason for a halt in construction was due to the combination of Civil War, the Know Nothing Party’s rise to control of the Washington National Monument Society through an illegal election and lack of funding. 
https://www.nps.gov/wamo/learn/historyculture/index.htm

0 Comments

    Deaf History

    Archives

    August 2020
    February 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

HOME          ABOUT          NEWS          RESOURCES          REVIEWS          ANNUAL EVENTS          CONTACT
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Resources
    • History
    • Organizations
    • Literature
    • Programming
    • Communication Tips
  • Reviews
  • Annual Events
    • Anniversaries >
      • Birth Anniversaries
      • Historical Events
      • Library Milestones
    • Deaf Related Events
    • General Interest Events
    • Calendar
  • Contact