The Disability History Museum is produced in partnership with
organizations inside and outside of the disability community. Partners
provide expertise, perspective, materials, and feedback aimed at developing
resources that are flexible, dynamic, and integrated with the needs of a broad
range of constituencies. Partnerships fall into two general categories:
Library, and
Education.
Library Partners
Library Partners are the foundation of the Disability History
Museum and include archives, museums, libraries, corporations, and
private collectors from around North America. These partners provide
access to their permanent collections and permission to create and
display digital reproductions of selected artifacts. They enable us to
build the programs found throughout this site, and in turn to expand
awareness of and access to our partners' collections. Our Library Partners
include:
The American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian
Society (AAS) in Worcester, MA is one of the oldest and most
extensive collections of materials related to history, literature,
and culture in America prior to 1876. Artifacts in the site from the
AAS include annual reports from institutions, children's literature,
sermons, lithographs, and other items from the 18th and 19th
centuries.
Post-Polio Health International
Post-Polio Health International (PPHI)
is an advocacy organization that works to enhance the lives and independence of
polio survivors and home ventilator users through education, advocacy, research
and networking. The organization commemorates and furthers the work of
Gini Laurie, a key individual in the development of the Independent
Living Movement. In 1959, Laurie began publishing the Toomeyville
Gazette, a newsletter that featured articles on living in the
community as individuals with disabilities. The Gazette became one
of the earliest and most important vehicles for connecting people
with disabilities around the country. PPHI has made a complete run
of the Toomeyville Gazette available to the Disability History
Museum.
The Robert Bogdan Collection
Robert Bogdan has been researching, writing, and teaching about
disability studies for more than thirty years. He has accumulated a
large personal collection of rare photographs, postcards, and other
paper ephemera related to the visual representation of people with
disabilities in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation
The Roosevelt Warm Springs
Institute for Rehabilitation is the rehabilitation facility in
Georgia founded and made famous by Franklin D. Roosevelt. In
addition to the therapy services it has provided during its 80
years, the Institute was a vital source of community to polio
survivors, especially in the 1930's, '40's, and '50's when there
were few other meeting places. The Institute makes several different
kinds of records related to this community available to the
Disability History Museum.
State Historical Societies
A number of state historical societies serve as Library Partners.
Historical societies maintain diverse collections of government
records, family papers, photographs, and other materials that inform
life within their states. These collections enable us to locate and
present stories about daily life in communities across the country.
Current Library Partners include the
Connecticut Historical Society,
Kansas Historical Society, and State Historical Society of Iowa.
Other Library Sources:
Education Partners
Education Partners provide crucial links to diverse educational
settings, expertise, curriculum resources, classroom laboratories, and
networks of teachers, students, and administrators. We work collaboratively with
K-12 teachers, higher education faculty and students to design and pilot
topics in disability history within broad themes in American History. Our
Education Partners include:
Keene State College
Founded in 1909, Keene State College
serves the citizens of New Hampshire and the greater Western
Massachusetts/Vermont region as a scholarly community of higher
learning. The College offers associate's, bachelor's and selected
master's degrees, as well as opportunities for continuing education
in credit and non-credit programs and courses. Keene State College
has a well-established track record accommodating students with
disabilities. Faculty at Keene State are currently developing
materials for the DHM in connection with the 2010 launch of
Becoming Helen Keller.
Hampshire Educational Collaborative
Hampshire Educational
Collaborative (HEC) is a nonprofit, multi-service agency linking
education, schools, families, and communities to opportunities and
resources that advance student learning in Western Massachusetts.
It provides school districts and K-12 teachers with consultation,
support services, classroom resources, and other tools. HEC is
helping to develop evaluation tools for assessing teacher and
student experiences with the Disability History Museum's
website, including its curriculum materials.
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University is the world leader in liberal education and career
development for deaf and hard-of-hearing undergraduate students. The
University also enjoys an international reputation for the graduate programs
it provides deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students, as well as for the
quality of the research it conducts on the history, language, culture, and
other topics related to deaf people. Jean Bergey, Outreach Liaison for
Gallaudet's College of Professional Studies and Outreach serves as Outreach
Coordinator for the Becoming Helen Keller project.
Newton North High School, Newton, MA
With funds provided by the John W. Alden Trust, we are working with
faculty, professional staff, student advisors, administrators, and
parents at Newton North High School
to develop and implement high school level curriculum resources tied
to Disability History Museum exhibits.
Past Collaborators:
Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability Studies, Syracuse University
The Center on Human Policy,
Law and Disability Studies at Syracuse University is a disability policy
and research institute. Syracuse University has a national reputation as a
leader in disability-related fields and has demonstrated a long commitment
to Special Education and Disability Studies.
Alaska Department of Labor/Parents Inc.
With funding from the National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), the Alaska Department of
Labor's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (AK DOL) and
Parents Inc. are
the initial sponsors of the Doers & Deeds curriculum project.
Doers & Deeds is an innovative museum exhibition and
education program that will integrate disability perspectives into
schools in Alaska and across the country. Parents Inc. is an
advocacy group for families of children with disabilities based in
Anchorage, AK.
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