[Nfb-history] {Disarmed} FW: History & Happenings: Tommy Stringer

Thu Oct 20 15:38:34 UTC 2016

Hello:

     Since this list has been much too quiet, I thought I would forward this post from Perkins.

Regards,

Robert

From: Perkins School for the Blind [mailto:supportperkins at perkins.org] 
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2016 8:02 AM
To: Robert Jaquiss
Subject: History & Happenings: Tommy Stringer

The legacies of Helen Keller and Tommy Stringer live on in Perkins' Deafblind Program.
 <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=TDUZ0UV6KCHSZMs2HhKEBA> View this email as a webpage.

 <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=XU1cQs0E3QY47YuTe1EmYA> Perkins School for the Blind

 October 2016 issue of History and Happenings. Tommy Stringer, age eleven, in sailor suit at portrait studio with body facing forward and head turned to the left in profile. <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy17-history-and-happenings-oct-outlook-header.jpg> 

October 2016

History & Happenings

Tommy Stringer

As a child  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=-YXtYxdAtFzc_n-m6M6MNA> Helen Keller (1880-1968) entered the public imagination as a champion for those who were blind or deafblind through her efforts to aid a poor, deafblind boy from Pennsylvania.  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=xLSf4he-e_OVN-FZlv6kOQ> Thomas (Tommy) Stringer was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1886. A bout with spinal meningitis as an infant left him deafblind. With his mother dead and his father unable to care for him, it seemed that Tommy was destined for one of Pennsylvania's many almshouses where, according to  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=YbvnsRuufPWp6MOIJmzlCA> Perkins' 1895 Annual Report, "he would no doubt have dragged out a miserable existence to the end of his days."

When she was ten years old, Keller learned of Tommy's situation and became intent on helping him. She solicited the help of donors to establish a fund for Tommy, which paid for his education and supported him after he graduated from Perkins School for the Blind, then known as the Perkins Institution for the Blind. Tommy's fellow deafblind classmates at Perkins included  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=pfzoC4ukaVbjVy1s5hfKZQ> Edith Thomas,  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=dDSNAgEZz2tW9ipTcjLuIg> Willie Elizabeth Robin and Keller herself.

 Tommy Stringer in portrait studio sawing a piece of wood at a stone desk wearing all black with a diffuse vignette around the edges. <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy15-history-and-happenings-jun-sec1.jpg> 

Having spent his early years confined to a bed, Tommy was extremely feeble when he arrived at Perkins School for the Blind in 1891. With support from teachers, staff and his fellow Perkins students, Tommy grew into an extremely active child interested in mathematics, construction and engineering. Here he demonstrates his sawing technique in an undated studio portrait.

Though his academic achievements were considered modest, Tommy had an active and inquisitive mind. He was especially skilled at woodworking, learned to communicate with the manual alphabet and achieved limited speech while at Perkins. In 1900, at age 13, Tommy began attending a public grammar school in Roxbury, Massachusetts where he learned alongside other sixth grade students. He also spent many summers on a farm in Wrentham, Massachusetts where, among other activities, he built railings and plucked chickens. After leaving Perkins in 1913, Tommy went to live with his guardian, Mr. Lee Edgarton, in Fulton, New York where he earned money making vegetable crates for local farmers. Tommy Stringer died on October 11, 1945 at the age of 59.

The legacies of Helen Keller and Tommy Stringer live on in  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=f381laLhgxNpPyMmRbEGUA> Perkins' Deafblind Program, which serves students age 3 to 22 who are deafblind or deaf with additional disabilities by taking a developmental approach to language, communication and curriculum. This program continues to be one of the few worldwide dedicated specifically to working with students with deafblindness.

 <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=AoyT5HnhZ-sHB028fK8c_g> View Tommy Stringer Photographs on FlickrView Tommy Stringer Photos 

 Photo of a needlework page from a bound volume of letters, writings, origami and sewing crafts completed by Tommy Stringer between 1896 and 1897. <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy15-history-and-happenings-jun-sec2-then.jpg> 

 Photo of Perkins alumna, Amy Caliri, working on a needlepoint artwork. <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy15-history-and-happenings-jun-sec2-now.jpg> 

Artistic Vision

Then & Now

On the left,In the top image, a needlework page from a  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=7TIzDFNo_5QFtkGblrJfJQ> bound volume of letters, writings, origami and sewing crafts completed by Tommy Stringer between 1896 and 1897. In addition to origami and sewing, Tommy was also an exceptional woodworker—skills he learned as part of the sloyd curriculum then taught at Perkins.

On the right,In the bottom image, Perkins alumna,  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=46HJLp6mz78sI4aWHKpKpQ> Amy Caliri, works in a studio creating a needlepoint artwork. Caliri, who is deaf with impaired vision, first came to Perkins School for the Blind as a preschooler, and then returned as a residential high school student. Today Caliri works in  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=HpSXhHvoFhWlmcfyG5_jOg> Gateway Arts studio five days a week. A successful artist, Caliri is known and respected by collectors who buy her paintings and needlework for as much as $900.

Give the gift of a brighter future

Since 1829, Perkins School for the Blind has been committed to helping children and young adults who are blind, deafblind or visually impaired. Your gift today will fund the teachers, training and technology that help people with a visual impairment prepare for all of life's opportunities.

 <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=UGcyD7vINv4jsoKfPd54tA> Donate now 

 View of Research Library at the Perkins Institution with woman wrapping books for mailing. <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy15-history-_-happenings-responsive-image-005.jpg> 

The Perkins Archives include collections related to the history of the education of the blind and deafblind, institutional archives, and correspondence of significant figures in the school's history, such as Helen Keller, Annie Sullivan and Samuel Gridley Howe.

To learn more about the Perkins Archives and sign up for their newsletter, visit  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=fCL9q_H28CKxPu_U0APQSw> PerkinsArchives.org. 

  <http://support.perkins.org/site/PixelServer?j=x63ZzfAMR-d3nyUvPSiDDQ> 

 <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=gcND-LJAXjYOPDEpFgXSrQ> Charity Navigator Rating  <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/footer-spacer.gif>  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=46YSZ8lbdBkqh2xuyyosBg> Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity  <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/footer-spacer.gif>  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=nUToZkybYlfUuOkSDry6_g> GuideStar Exchange Gold Participant Logo

Office of the Perkins Trust
Perkins School for the Blind
175 North Beacon Street
Watertown, MA 02472
P: 617-972-7328
F: 617-972-7334
 <mailto:supportperkins at perkins.org> Contact Us 

This email was sent by Perkins School for the Blind to  <mailto:rjaquiss at earthlink.net> rjaquiss at earthlink.net. Please add  <mailto:supportperkins at perkins.org> supportperkins at perkins.org to your address book to ensure our emails continue to reach you. 

 <http://support.perkins.org/site/CO?i=QB5c1pRMvYJwNM5VlSr79pY8a0r94elD&cid=1761&i=&cid=0> UNSUBSCRIBE OR  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=y_I-92prOUULgZA-TLlCqQ> MANAGE YOUR PREFERENCES

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfb-history_nfbnet.org/attachments/20161020/b2e6a1dd/attachment.html>