Research Libraryand Archives Newsletter :March 2017

Welcome!

This month’s newsletter talks about two recent conferences we were involved with, as well as a new digital collection and new books.

Cogan Ophthalmic Society:

Research Librarian Jennifer Arnott attended the Cogan Ophthalmic History Society meeting from March 24th to 26th at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, Massachusetts. Members are mostly ophthalmologists who gather yearly to share short presentations on famous figures in the field, the development of innovative technologies, and related topics.

Jennifer and Catherine Arnott Smith (Jennifer’s sister, a professor of library science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a background in the history of medicine and medical informatics) presented a project on terminology used about the causes of blindness for students at Perkins between 1880 and 1899. Jennifer gathered the phrases and terms used in student records from those years and anonymized the data, then Catherine compared them to current medical terminology (MeSH and ICD-10).

This period includes both Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller so this information, collected in one place for the first time, gives us more contextforthe experience of students in those years. The project also identified tools that will help us collect and compare cause of blindness information at other points in the school’s history.

Particularly interesting presentations included:

  • A longer memorial lecture on the evolution of color vision from Dr. Ivan Schwab
  • The treatment of snowblindness in the heroic age of Antarctic exploration
  • Definitions of blindness and how they changed over time.
  • The Halifax explosion of December 1917. (The Research Library and Archives are also exploring ways to highlight our materials about this the Halifax disaster for the anniversary.)

New England Archivists Spring Conference:

Perkins Archivist Jen Hale attended the Spring Conference of the New England Archivists, “Changing Tides,” March 24th and 25th in Hyannis, Massachusetts.

Of note was the presentation “Teaching Disability History With Primary Sources, ” given by Laurie Block, Executive Director of the Disability History Museum and Perkins Archives Advisory Board member; Graham Warder, Associate Professor of History at Keene State College; Deborah Thomas, World Geography Teacher at Barnstable High School, and Laura Lovett, Associate Professor of History at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The teachers in this session shared their experiences using primary sources for integrating disability history topics into US history courses. Laurie Block, who pilots professional development workshops on this topic, discussed issues associated with locating disability related resources, evolving language, and historical context.

From The Archives: Outings & Field Trips Digital Collection

Explore our new digital collection of photographs that document some of the outings and field trips taken by students from the Perkins School for the Blind between 1905 and circa 1950s. Some of the destinations include Revere Beach, Mt. Monadnock, and other locales.

Research Library Display:

Early in April we’ll have a new book display up highlighting books about gardening and housekeeping skills. Some titles you might find include:

  1. Horticulture Program by Perkins School for the Blind
  2. Accessible Gardening for People with Physical Disabilities: A Guide to Methods, Tools, and Plants byJaneen R. Adil
  3. The Garden Classroom: Hands-On Activities in Math, Science, Literacy & Art by Cathy James
  4. Getting on With Gardening edited by Tim Spurgeon
  5. Gardening Within Arm’s Reach by Hans Schuman
  6. Basic Housekeeping Manual by Kathy Bull

New Titles of Interest:

  • Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers (8th edition) by Paul A. Alberto, Anne C. Troutman. (Pearson, 2009).
  • Blindman’s Mail: How the blind have been served by the Post by Gavin Fryer (Hobbs The Printers Limited, 2010). A history of mail services for the blind in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
  • Foundations of Education: History and theory of teaching children and youths with visual impairments (3rd edition) edited by M.Cay Holbrook and Alan J. Koenig. (American Foundation for the Blind, 2017). Brand new edition of a core work with new chapters on a variety of topics. More details at the AFB website.
  • The World in the Mind and Sculpture of Deafblind People by Ewa Anna Niestorowicz (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017). The blurb describes it as “a pioneering interdisciplinary study combining theories from the fields of pedagogy, psychology, semiotics, and theory of art.”

Back in March!

As always, please stop by or contact the Research Library and Archives if we can help you! You can reach the Research Librarian, Jennifer Arnott, at extension 7541 or .