[NFBMT] The Encyclopedia and Me

[Laurie]

Robert wrote this article. I thought you all might enjoy reading it. Be blessed. 


https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr38/3/fr380309.htm?fbclid=IwAR3ZrPCoVrvDAHXs8vaCjzDaSl8WW6jtSP5HL6BhHh158VoMXMGM6FjiTrM

The Encyclopedia and Me
American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults 
Future Reflections       Fall 2019      BRAILLE

() () ()

by Robert Jaquiss

From the Editor: Schools provide formal education that plays a crucial role in the development of all children, both blind and sighted. However, education doesn't stop when the student leaves the classroom. Family and community can create an environment that provides opportunities and fosters lifelong learning. In this article, Robert Jaquiss pays tribute to his parents for making sure that he had a learning opportunity that many of his sighted peers took for granted. He tells the story of his parents' quest to acquire a Braille encyclopedia that he could use at home.

In 1963, when I was ten, it was common for parents to purchase encyclopedias for their children. These expensive books would be carefully shelved and available for use at any time of the day. Encyclopedias could be purchased by mail order, but often they were marketed by door-to-door salespeople. There were numerous encyclopedias to choose from, including the Encyclopedia Americana, Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica Junior, Compton's, Grolier, and World Book. Parents could purchase additional reference books through the encyclopedia company such as a dictionary or world atlas. Annual yearbooks, also available for purchase, kept the encyclopedia up-to-date.

In 1960 the Field Enterprise Company and Field Foundation provided funds to make the necessary plates so the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) could produce a Braille version of the World Book Encyclopedia. The plan was that each state could acquire two copies, one for its school for the blind and the other for the regional library. The copy at the regional library could be lent out to borrowers one volume at a time.

One fall, when my family attended the Oregon State Fair, Volume 1 of the Braille encyclopedia was on display. I don't recall whether it was displayed at the World Book booth or the booth for the Oregon State School for the Blind, but the book got a lot of attention. Visitors were impressed by the size of the large Braille volume. Volume 1 started with A (the history of the letter) and ended with Adverb. The encyclopedia volumes and dictionary volumes are the largest Braille volumes ever produced by APH.

The production of the Braille encyclopedia was a monumental undertaking. The complete 1959 World Book consists of one hundred and forty-five volumes that take up forty-three-and-a-half feet of shelf space. There are 38,400 Braille pages in the set. In 1962 my parents determined that I would have my very own copy of the World Book Encyclopedia.

I knew that my parents wanted to get me an encyclopedia, but at the time I wasn't told of all they did to acquire one. They began by writing letters and making phone calls to find out how it might be possible. Hoping to impress the World Book company, my father signed up to sell encyclopedias. He spent one summer traveling about town, showing the encyclopedia to perspective customers. Since he couldn't sell a product he wasn't familiar with, at home we had a variety of the company's products: the World Book; Child Craft, a two-volume dictionary; an atlas; and Cyclo Teacher, complete with all the packets of sheets—but of course all these resources were only in print.

One day in the summer of 1963, my father said, "Rob, let's go to the lumber yard." The lumber yard was always an interesting place to visit. On the drive I asked what we were going to purchase. My father told me that he thought I should have more bookshelves in my room. This seemed odd, since I already had close to forty feet of shelf space on one wall.

At the lumber yard Dad bought ten-foot lengths of twelve-inch shelving. This was an expensive way to get shelves. Other times when shelving was needed, Dad bought plywood and ripped it into lengths of the desired width. This time he bought the sturdiest shelf brackets the lumber yard had to offer. Back at home Dad and I mounted the shelves. When we were done, I had fifty more feet of shelf space.

A day or two later, I received a Braille copy of a letter from APH. The letter informed me that during the next eighteen months I would receive the Braille version of the World Book Encyclopedia in installments. The week before, my parents had received a letter from APH informing them that, if they would send the princely sum of $661.25 within three days and if APH did not get a prior claim, they could purchase an encyclopedia for me. I am not sure how much my father was paid as a teacher, but he certainly didn't have $661.25 on hand. He took out a loan from the credit union in order to raise the funds.

Eventually, our mailman arrived with a huge box in his push cart. The box was nearly two feet long and a foot square. It held the first eleven volumes of the encyclopedia. I hauled them upstairs and arranged them carefully on my new shelves. Every few weeks, another big box arrived. Eventually, my 1959 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia was complete. In 1964 and 1965, I received two yearbooks, each of which comprised six volumes.

I spent many happy hours reading that Braille encyclopedia. It helped me graduate with honors from Silverton Union High School in 1971. In 1972, while I was attending what was then known as Oregon College of Education (OCE), an effort was made to acquire Braille reference books for the library. The library purchased the 72-volume set of the New World Dictionary of the American Language. This small dictionary occupied twenty-four feet of shelf space. Not needing an encyclopedia at home any longer, I lent it to the library. There it was available for use by the blind students who attended OCE.

I graduated from college and went on to work at Tektronix. On occasion I thought of the encyclopedia that had meant so much to me and my parents. By then it was long out of date, and I didn't have room for it anyway.

In the early 1990s a fire broke out at the Oregon State School for the Blind, damaging the library. The encyclopedia was contaminated with soot. When the students read it they got soot on their hands, and they left marks on everything they touched. The teachers complained that the children were reading "dirty books." I was pleased to offer my encyclopedia to replace the copy that had been damaged.

Visitors to the fourth-floor conference room at NFB headquarters in Baltimore may browse through a copy of the 1959 World Book Encyclopedia and the New World Dictionary of the American Language. Thanks to the persistence of my parents, I am one of the few blind people who ever had a copy of the Braille encyclopedia at home.

Today print encyclopedias are fast disappearing. I believe that World Book and Grolier are the only two publishers who still offer hard copy versions. All of the encyclopedias are now available online on a subscription basis, and most are accessible to people who use screen readers. Blind students now have access to the vast storehouses of information that are available to their sighted peers. But few children, blind or sighted, will experience the delights of poring for hours over the magical volumes of an encyclopedia that they can hold in their hands, discovering treasures of knowledge to last a lifetime.