History in the Making: The Story of the American Printing House for the Blind, 1858-2008

2008·17.6 MB·English

by  Carol Brenner Tobe

HISTORY IN THE MAKING:
THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND
1858-2008
“I do not think I shall ever forget my first attempt
to read. I thought it impossible I ever should
learn, but my motto was, ‘Where there's a will,
there’s a way,’” wrote Mary Day in Baltimore
in 1859.
Mary Day was blind. For centuries, reading
and blindness had seemed an impossible
combination. Even at her school, the Maryland
School for the Blind, there were few books
embossed in the newly developed raised letters
that could be read by touch.
A small organization, founded in Louisville,
Kentucky, was about to change that. Before
the Civil War, before automobiles, telephones,
the Louisville Slugger baseball bat, or the
Kentucky Derby, there was the American
Printing House for the Blind (APH). Founded in
1858, APH became the world’s largest nonprofit
organization creating educational, workplace,
and independent living products and services
for people who are visually impaired.
Author Carol Tobe places the birth, growth,
and development of this unique Louisville
manufacturer into the context of changing
attitudes about people with disabilities. History
in the Making is filled with stories of people who
made a difference: the blind promoter from
Mississippi, civic leaders who guided the
fledgling organization, pioneer educators and
students who struggled to develop standardized
methods of reading and writing, and managers
and workers who invented innovative methods
to make the written word available to those who
could not see.
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