Catch a Glimpse of our History of the Blind Holdings informing #CommonTouch opening April 4,  2016. Exhibition of VCP at LCP.

Laura Dewey Bridgman, ca. 1875. Black & white photograph. 5.75 x 4 in.

Picture shows an almost full-length portrait of Laura Bridgman, who is seated in a straight-backed wooden chair and angled slightly to the viewer’s left. Her hair is neatly parted down the middle and pulled back into a bun. There is a small smile on her otherwise placid face. She wears a dress with a high white collar, a dark lace shawl, and glasses with thin oval frames and semi-opaque lenses that mostly obscure her eyes. There is a thin ring band on the ring finger of her left hand. She sews a piece of knitted handiwork of alternating dark and light color. An open book rests on the table to the right of her, on the viewer’s left. Historical note: Bridgman was educated at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts. [End of description]

Common Touch has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage @PewCenterArts.

Common Touch #TBT

Studio portrait of young blind man reading with his fingers. United States, ca. 1870. 

Full-length portrait showing a young man, seated, with a large sheet of paper in his lap. The man’s hands are placed at the end of the sheet and he looks slightly down. He wears a dark-colored suit adorned with a small bow at the end of his short, notched jacket lapels. A pin accessorizes the chest of his buttoned jacket that also contains a small left-sided pocket. He also wears a white collarless shirt. He sits on a one-armed cushioned chair with fringe details at the edge of the seat and armrest. A painted backdrop illustrated with a road leading to a pavilion is visible behind him. Valentin Hauy developed the first successful raised printing for the blind in 1784 in Paris. By the mid 19th century, in the United States, line types resembling the Roman alphabet predominated. By the later 19th century, the dot systems New York Point and braille began to compete with line types in printing for the blind. [end of description]

http://commontouch.librarycompany.org/

Common Touch has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage @PewCenterArts.