Guest Post: The Blind History Lady
Before it was NLS

Hello Blind History Lady Fans:

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the National Library Service for the Blind. But how did national library services for the blind get started years before? 

November 1, 1897, the first Reading Room for the Blind was opened in the Northwest corner on the first floor of what is today called the Thomas Jefferson Building. The woman credited for putting the idea into the Librarians mind is Helen Marr Campbell. Here is how Helen convinced the librarian to include the blind.   

After leaving the Maryland School for the Blind, Helen moved to Washington D. C., and taught music. She took rooms with Catherine Keith and her father.

Catherine Keith edited a newsletter for the blind called the “Scrap Basket”. Catherine collected articles, then Helen and other blind women transcribed by hand, several copies into braille and New York Point. The newsletter was circulated among the blind, passed from one to another. 

Helen met Alice Underwood-Hunt, the second wife of the Governor of Colorado, the late Alexander Cameron Hunt. Mrs. Hunt asked the blind pianist to come stay with her during the summer of 1897. 

A new building was being erected to hold the library of Congress, scheduled to open in late fall of 1897. While talking with Mrs. Hunt about the new building in the news, Helen told of the difficulty the blind had in the country to obtain any reading material as an adult, and  there was no place to quietly read.

“The deaf and the dumb have their college. There are hospitals for the sick and insane, and a home for the district’s paupers. But no provision of any kind has been made by anybody for the betterment of the condition of the blind.” Helen explained.

“One of our great sources of sorrow, has been that we have had no chance of others of equal education. Of course, we have a right to go to the Congressional Library and sit down in the public rooms with our books. But fingers reading naturally calls around us a crowd of spectators who ask idle and curious questions that – hurt. We are always grateful for sympathy, but only the blind can know how many hours of sadness are inflicted by thoughtless people who see.”  

Mrs. Hunt listened to what Helen said. Sighted people read every day, either a newspaper, signage in a business, letters from friends, their bible or devotional material. Those such as Helen, taught to read in school, with access to reading material that brought the world to them, found themselves, after leaving the schools for the blind, starved for literacy.

Alice Hunt called in-person the next day to the Librarian, and asked Mr. Young to talk with Helen. Mr. Young exchanged several letters with Helen excited to start a reading room for the blind, and asking to learn more about the needs of the blind.

In her letters she said: “We go out into the world with little or rather no opportunity for reading since our books are very expensive and most of us are not able to procure them.” The letter went on, “Now I ask you, in the name of humanity, only to think for one moment, what your conditions would be were you deprived of the blessed delight of reading-and remember the blind in the forming of your great library.” 

The two met in the middle of September in person. Helen brought several prominent blind citizens along with her to his offices to discuss plans. They thanked him for making the literacy of the blind just as important as the sighted in the country. 

On November1, 1897, the library had its grand opening.  The Reading Room for the blind, in the basement was ready for its patrons. Special shelves were built to house the oversized books and materials. A screen allowed for private reading, away from the curious sighted patrons. Tables and chairs were spaciously placed around the room to allow for quiet reading as well as a volunteer reading to a group. Thicker paper and writing devices such as a slate and stylus were placed in the reading room for blind persons to write letters to other blind persons. It also meant that if a blind patron or volunteer who knew one of the raised codes, could also write a letter or card from the sighted guest to a blind person. Later, typewriters were added.

Originally, the library was to be on the main floor. However, many stairs led up to the main floor from the street. Fewer stairs led to the basement and officials felt that fewer stairs would be preferable to the blind. 

The library opened with several books in Braille, Moon Type, and New York Point, about 500 volumes. The books included an eight-volume Bible, books by Dickens, an encyclopedia, the Eneid, Books in Latin, poetry and musical scores. 

Just as she had before November of 1897 at other libraries around the district, Helen spent a lot of time at the Reading Room for the Blind in the Library of Congress. She read what there was, but also assisted newly blinded patrons in learning how to read and write in one of the raised formats available. Many believed that Helen was one of the “elite” blind in D. C. as she had an education, was literate and conducted her music teaching business enough to support herself with comfort. 

Visitors from across the country and around the world came to visit the reading room. Some were curious sighted individuals. Others were the well-educated blind with no library services in their community.

Helen got to know Col. Edward F. Jones, a former Lieutenant Governor of New York who lost his sight later in life. He came to the Reading Room and learned to read and write in New York Point. The Blind Chaplin of the House of Representatives, Rev. Henry N. Couden came to read from the religious material. 

One blind man, a piano tuner by trade many times visited the library, just to warm up in the winter. The blind patrons and the librarian took him under their wing. They taught him to read and write, dress better and built up his self-respect. After many visits to the library, his piano tuning business grew. 

Helen not only contributed her own New York Point material to the library, but helped raise funds for the purchase of additional material for the reading room such as magazine subscriptions in alternative formats, raised line maps and books. 

Often Helen performed for the one-hour concerts on Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:30 at the Reading Room. Her technique on the piano was considered to be superb. Her voice was strong, sweet and conveyed much emotion, bringing in not just blind patrons of the library, but sighted ones as well. When the performance began, the doors to the reading room were closed and no one was allowed to enter or leave until the end of the performance.  

If you would like to schedule a presentation contact me at theblindhistorylady@gmail.com

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