Perkins School for the Blind history

1831 The New York Institution for the Education of the Blind (now the New York Institute for Special Education) is incorporated.

1832 The Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind (later the Overbrook School for the Blind) is founded.

1833 Gospel of St Mark, the first book in raised print in the United States, is printed in Philadelphia.

1834 Louis Braille perfects the literary braille code.

1835 Acts of the Apostles is the first book embossed in Boston Line Type, a tactile code developed by Samuel Gridley Howe.

1837 The Perkins School for the Blind establishes a printing plant, later named the Howe Memorial Press.

1839 A state-supported normal school for training general education teachers is started in Lexington, Massachusetts.

1847 Doctor Robert Moon develops his raised-line type, referred to as Moon Type.

1852 Boston Line Type becomes the predominant reading medium for people who are blind in the United States until braille, a point system, is later adopted.

1854 France officially adopts braille as a reading mode for people who are blind.

1855 Doctor William Moon and the Moon Society volunteers begin touring Britain and instructing people who are blind in reading in their homes.

1858 The Kentucky legislature establishes the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) as an offshoot of the Kentucky School for the Blind.

1866 Samuel Gridley Howe, the first director of the Perkins School for the Blind, expresses concern about segregated education for students who are blind in residential schools.

1868 William B. Wait develops the New York Point raised-dot system at the New York Institution for the Blind.

1871 The first pamphlet on braille music notation is published.

1873 The first Congress of Teachers of the Blind is held in Vienna.

1878 Joel W. Smith at the Perkins School for the Blind develops the American raised-point system, modeled closely on braille, which becomes the foundation for American braille.

1880 Anne Sullivan enters the Perkins School for the Blind.

1887 The Perkins School for the Blind founds a kindergarten for babies who are blind.

1891 Thomas H. Gallaudet begins the first teacher training program for students who are deaf.

1893 The first nursery for neglected babies who are blind is started in Hartford, Connecticut.

1895 The Royal Normal College in England starts a college to train persons who are blind as teachers.

1899 The braille shorthand system is developed.

1900 Wisconsin and Michigan authorize subsidies for the excess cost of classes for students who are deaf in public schools, the first financial support for any children with disabilities.

1903 The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller, is published.

1905 The New York Association for the Blind (now Lighthouse International) is founded.

1907 Helen Keller, who had learned four embossed codes, pleads for a single code.

1909 The First White House Conference on Children and Youth is held.

1910 The Arthur Sunshine Home and Kindergarten for Blind Babies opens in Summit, New Jersey.

1913 Robert B. Irwin uses 36-point type in books for "partially seeing" students.

1915 The National Society for the Prevention of Blindness (NSPB) is founded.

1918 The University of California offers the first university preparation course for teachers of students who are blind.

1920 Barr, Stroud, and Fournier d'Albe patent the optophone, the first reading machine for people who are blind, which translates printed letters into musical tones.

1921 The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is founded.

1923 APH expands its tangible apparatus facilities.

1925 The Carnegie Corporation funds an APH study of braille interpoint equipment.

1928 The first issue of Teacher's Forum is published by AFB.

1930 The National Institute for the Blind introduces a high-speed rotary press for embossed type.

1931 The first World Conference on Work for the Blind is held in New York.

1932 Standard English Braille is adopted as uniform type by the American and British Uniform Type Committees.

1934 The first Talking Books on long-playing records are produced.

1935 Columbia University starts a year-round program for teachers of students who are blind at Teachers College.

1936 APH produces recorded material.

1938 Father Thomas Carroll begins work at the Catholic Guild for the Blind.

1940 The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is founded.

1942 Interim Hayes-Binet Tests for the Blind are developed.

1944 Richard E. Hoover at the Valley Forge Hospital and Russell Williams at Hines Hospital and others develop long-cane mobility techniques.

1947 APH begins the regular publication of large-type books.

1948 Recording for the Blind (now Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic) is established.

1951 First issue of the International Journal for the Education of the Blind (now Education of the Visually Handicapped) is published by AAIB.

1953 The first low vision clinics open at the New York Lighthouse and the Industrial Home for the Blind.

1954 The National Association for Visually Handicapped (NAVH) is founded.

1955 The Perkins School for the Blind starts the first training program for teachers of deaf-blind students in association with Boston University.

1956 Educational materials from APH are made available to day- school pupils.

1957 The Industrial Home for the Blind reports on its optical aids service and defines the basic model for what has become the standard low vision service.

1960 Boston College starts the first university program for O&M instructors.

1962 The concept of the instructional materials centers is formulated through the recommendations of a presidential task force.

1963 Computers are adapted to produce braille outputs.

1967 San Francisco State University and Florida State University establish the first programs to train mobility instructors of children.

1968 Helen Keller dies.

1969 The Making of Blind Men, A Study of Adult Socialization, by Robert Scott, is published by the Russell Sage Foundation.

1970 Eleanor E. Faye's book, The Low Vision Patient: Clinical Experience with Adults and Children, is published.

1971 The Optacon tactile reading machine is developed by John Linvill and James C. Bliss.

1972 The Banks pocket brailler is developed by Alfred Banks in San Diego, California, and produced by International Business Machines.

1973 Berthold Lowenfeld's book, The Visually Handicapped Child in School, is published.

1975 Eleanor E. Faye and Clare Hood's book, Low Vision, is published.

1976 New Outlook for the Blind is renamed the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness.

1977 The first mass-market personal computers are launched.

1979 The first Special Study Institute for State Education Consultants for the Visually Handicapped is sponsored by the University of Michigan with federal funds.

1980 Foundations of Orientation and Mobility, edited by Richard L. Welsh and Bruce B. Blasch, is published by AFB.

1982 The North American Conference on Visually Handicapped Infants and Preschool Children is held.

1983 The first braille embosser attachment to a microcomputer is developed.

1984 NFB creates the Division of Parents of Blind Children.

1993 First bienniel "Getting in Touch with Literacy" conference is held in Little Rock, Arkansas.

1997 The second edition of Foundations of Orientation and Mobility, edited by Bruce B. Blasch, William R. Wiener, and Richard L. Welsh, is published by AFB.

2000 American Foundation for the Blind National Literacy Center established.

The most recent project in Watertown for visually impaired persons is the "Braille Trail", which was completed in July 2016.