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Records of the International Sunshine Society, Department of the Blind

Call Number

MS 3055

Date

1917, 1926-1928, inclusive

Creator

International Sunshine Society. Department of the Blind

Extent

0.417 Linear feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

A small collection of records from the International Sunshine Society, Department of the Blind. The International Sunshine Society, a charity incorporated in 1900 "to bring the sunshine of happiness to the greatest possible number of hearts," extended its work to the care and education of the sightless through its homes for "blind babies" (i.e., minors) at Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, and Summit, New Jersey, among other locations. Monthly meeting minutes for 1917 include reports on activities and progress at the homes; four items--including two in Braille--were written by Lillian Butler (born ca. 1903), a resident of the Dyker Heights home. Includes minutes of the International Sunshine Society's annual conventions for 1926–1928.

Historical Note

Cynthia May Westover Alden (1862–1931), who wrote for the New York Recorder and New York Tribune, began with fellow journalists about 1896 to send Christmas cards to shut-ins. The group organized itself as the Sunshine Society to continue and expand on the practice. Incorporated in 1900 as the International Sunshine Society, the charity sought "to bring the sunshine of happiness to the greatest possible number of hearts and homes." The Society extended its work to the care of sightless children, whose education during the early years of the twentieth century was usually neglected since their blindness was often confused for mental deficiency. The International Sunshine Society's Department (originally Branch) of the Blind was created in 1904 and separately incorporated in 1905, with poet, composer, and humanitarian Mary C. Seward (1839–1919) as president. The Department ran several homes for "blind babies" (i.e., minors), such as the Dyker Heights Home for Blind Babies (opened 1906) at 1255 84th Street, Brooklyn, and the Arthur Home for Blind Babies (opened 1909) at Pine Grove Avenue, Summit, New Jersey. The homes served as combined nurseries, hospitals, and schools. In 1907 the Dyker Heights Home, under the aegis of the New York City Board of Education, hosted the first publicly-run kindergarten for blind children in the United States.

Arrangement

The collection is sorted chronologically in five folders. The box housing the folders also contains the two empty binders that originally held the collection.

Scope and Contents

The monthly minutes for 1917 of the International Sunshine Society, Department of the Blind (folders 1–2), document the activities and progress of the Society's homes for "blind babies" (i.e., minors) at Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, and Summit, New Jersey. Among the official reports and financial accounts are four items written by Lillian "Lillie" Butler (born ca. 1903), one of the self-styled "big girls" of the Dyker Heights Home. Two of Lillie's pieces are in Braille: a letter dated 31 May 1917 presenting to Cynthia Alden for her birthday a "chain made entirely and unassisted by the children" (in Minutes for June 1917; with penned translation), and a 10-page "Report of the opening of Summer Work and pleasures of the children," which she read before the July meeting of the Society's officers (in Minutes for July 1917; without translation). Lillie's reports for August and October were made with very few errors on a "typewritter" [sic] (in Minutes for August and October 1917).

The remainder of the collection consists of minutes of the annual conventions of the International Sunshine Society (folders 3–5) held at Batavia, New York (1926), Waukesha, Wisconsin (1927), and Kansas City, Missouri (1928).

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers.

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. (Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days.)

Use Restrictions

This collection is owned by the New-York Historical Society. The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before 1 January 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation Note

This collection should be cited as the Records of the International Sunshine Society, Department of the Blind, MS 3055, The New-York Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchase, Franklin Gilliam Rare Books, March 2018.

Collection processed by

Joseph Ditta

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:47:08 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information

Archivist Joseph Ditta processed this collection in June 2018.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024