Library Collections: Document: Full Text
 |
Perkins Institution And Massachusetts School For The Blind, One Hundred And Fifteenth Annual Report, 1946
| ||||||||||
|
||
| 1 |
CALENDAR | |
| 2 |
September 10. Stated Meeting of the Board of Trustees | |
| 3 |
October 7. Staff Meeting | |
| 4 |
November 4. Annual Meeting of the Corporation | |
| 5 |
January 6. Pupils and Staff return from Vacation | |
| 6 |
February 11. Executive Committee | |
| 7 | February 22. Holiday | |
| 8 |
March 10. Staff Meeting | |
| 9 |
April 7. Pupil return from Easter Vacation | |
| 10 |
May 12. Staff Meeting | |
| 11 |
June 7. Alumnae Day | |
| 12 |
September 8. Staff Meeting | |
| 13 | PERKINS INSTITUTION | |
| 14 | HISTORY | |
| 15 | IN 1826 Dr. John D. Fisher returned to Boston from Paris resolved to provide for the blind of Massachusetts the same care afforded them in France. Enlisting the aid of friends, a committee was formed and upon petition to the Legislature an Act of Incorporation was granted on March 2, 1829, establishing "The New England Asylum for the Blind," the first school in America for those without sight. In 1831 Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, just returned from participation in the Greek wars, was elected the first director, and in August, 1832, the first classes were held in the house of Dr. Howe's father on Pleasant Street. | |
| 16 | During the early years Col. Thomas H. Perkins became interested in the little school and gave for its use his large house on Pearl Street. The need for larger quarters was soon apparent, and in 1839 the great hotel in South Boston was purchased. This purchase was made possible by the assent of Colonel Perkins to the sale of the house that he had given to the School. Because of this magnanimous attitude of Colonel Perkins the Trustees renamed the school "Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind." This name was changed in 1877 to the present name, "Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind." | |
| 17 | Dr. Howe directed the growing work of Perkins Institution for forty years and was succeeded in 1876 by his Greek protégé and son-in-law, Michael Anagnos. Mr. Anagnos created the Howe Memorial Press for publishing embossed books and for the manufacture of appliances for education of the blind. In 1887 he founded the Kindergarten in Jamaica Plain, the first school in the world for little blind children. After thirty years of leadership Mr. Anagnos died in Rumania in 1906. | |
| 18 | In 1907 the directorship of Perkins Institution fell to Edward E. Allen, head of the school for the blind in Philadelphia, where he had just rebuilt the school plant on a garden site outside of the city. Coming to Boston, Mr. Allen began plans for a new Perkins, and in 1912 the Institution and in 1913 the Kindergarten were housed in the beautiful new plant at Watertown. These buildings, situated on an old estate of thirty-four acres on the banks of the Charles River, have school and residence facilities for nearly three hundred pupils. Dr. Allen retired in 1931. His last official act was to write the one hundredth annual report. Thus for a century Perkins Institution had but three directors. | |
| 19 | PURPOSE | |
| 20 | Perkins Institution provides for the visually handicapped youth of New England full educational opportunity from Kindergarten through High School. The content of instruction corresponds with that offered to seeing boys and girls in the public schools. The methods of instruction of necessity differ. Principal differences are that embossed books take the place of ink-print, and studies are taught objectively. In the adaptation and invention of means of instructing the blind, Perkins has been a pioneer through its century of existence. Much attention is paid to physical and manual training and to music. Opportunity is provided for those qualified to pursue higher studies or take advanced work in music and vocational fields. | |