Talk: Vermont's 19th Century Deaf Community
Join us for an in-person talk at the Vermont History Center in Barre with Rebecca A. R. Edwards.
Today, we all enjoy watching the Super Bowl sign language interpreter transform Bad Bunny’s performance into ASL before our very eyes. But how many of us know that the earliest roots of the national deaf community grew from right here, in New England? The first school for the deaf was founded in New England. The first organization for deaf Americans, founded by deaf Americans, was founded in New England. This important national story has roots in Vermont. Nineteenth-century deaf Vermonters played a critical role in the establishment of the national American deaf community. Their contribution was crucial, but their story remains mostly untold. This lecture will shine a light on Vermont’s deaf founding fathers and mothers. It will also recover Montpelier as a central place in the history of the larger deaf community.
ASL interpretation will be provided for the talk. After the program we will have time to explore related collections in our Research & Exhibition Gallery.
Parts of this talk will be recorded. The recording will be available after the event on our Youtube channel.
Rebecca A.R. Edwards received the Weston A. Cate, Jr. Fellowship from the Vermont Historical Society in 2022. She is a professor of history at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a scholar of American deaf history. Her latest book, written with Eric C. Nystrom, is Ordinary Lives: Recovering Deaf Social History through the American Census (2024).
