[NFBMT] The Encyclopedia and Me
Edward Robbins
ecrobbins517 at gmail.com
Fri Oct 25 00:40:42 UTC 2019
I wasn't a fan of encyclopedias when I was growing up, but after we had our
kids doing research papers in school, we acquired an old copy which we
still have in a storage cabinet in our garage. (shame on us). Also, as a
child in the Shriners Hospital there was a young girl that was smart as
anyone could be and her enjoyment was to check out of the school (hospital)
and read it. (I thought how boring. Now I know better.
Robert needs to be commended for his history of the encyclopedia
saga. Thanks Robert..
Ted Robbins
EDWARD C "TED" ROBBINS, E-MAIL: ecrobbins517 at gmail.com
CEO MBEI & Treasurer NFB of Montana
PHONE & FAX: 406 453 6678, CELL: 406 799 6268
104 RIVERVIEW 5 E
REAT FALLS MT 59404
-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMT <nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of BRUCE&JOY BRESLAUER via
NFBMT
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2019 5:59 PM
To: 'NFB of Montana Discussion List' <nfbmt at nfbnet.org>
Cc: BRUCE&JOY BRESLAUER <breslauerj at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBMT] The Encyclopedia and Me
That is an interesting article. I was fascinated with the Braille
encyclopedia they had at the Montana School for the Deaf and the Blind. I
went to school with someone who read it from cover to cover. I also
unknowingly married someone whose parents got him his own copy. That would
have taken up the whole house. He also lived across the street from someone
whose parents also got him a copy of the encyclopedia. That was unheard of
in my world. Joy
-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMT <nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of sheila leigland via
NFBMT
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2019 5:36 PM
To: Anna Robbins via NFBMT <nfbmt at nfbnet.org>
Cc: sheila leigland <sheila.leigland at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBMT] The Encyclopedia and Me
thanks that was an interesting article. Noone that I grew up with had their
own copy. I loved reading the encyclopedia as a child. I would read it in
the resource room if and when I had the time.
On 10/24/2019 3:43 PM, Anna Robbins via NFBMT wrote:
> Thanks for sharing! It is most interesting reading.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On Oct 21, 2019, at 11:43 PM, Laurie via NFBMT <nfbmt at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> ?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?fb
>> clid=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.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NFBMT mailing list
>> NFBMT at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmt_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
NFBMT:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmt_nfbnet.org/mamarobbins9%40hot
>> mail.com
> _______________________________________________
> NFBMT mailing list
> NFBMT at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmt_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
NFBMT:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmt_nfbnet.org/sheila.leigland%40g
> mail.com
_______________________________________________
NFBMT mailing list
NFBMT at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmt_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBMT:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmt_nfbnet.org/breslauerj%40gmail.com
_______________________________________________
NFBMT mailing list
NFBMT at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmt_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBMT:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmt_nfbnet.org/ecrobbins517%40gmail.com
More information about the NFBMT
mailing list