Libraries and Archives Enrich Lives!

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. 

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