Edward Miner Gallaudet
Encyclopedia
Edward Miner Gallaudet son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
and Sophia Fowler Gallaudet
, was a famous early educator of the deaf in Washington, DC. As a youth, he enjoyed working with tools and also built an "electrical machine." He kept birds, fowl and rabbits, spending most of his time in the city, but also occasionally venturing into the country. He had a fond memory of climbing a hill with his father, and another fond memory of his father introducing the subject of geometry to him. His father died when he was 14, just after he graduated from Hartford High School. He then went to work at a bank for three years. He didn't like the "narrowing effect" of the mental monotony of the work, and he quit to go to work as a teacher at the school his father founded. He worked there two years, from 1855 to 1857. While he was teaching, he continued his education at Trinity College
in Hartford, completing his studies for a bachelor of science degree two years later.
In 1857, Amos Kendall
donated 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) of land for the establishment of a school for the deaf and blind in Washington, D.C.
, and asked Gallaudet to come to Washington to help lead this school. Edward Miner quickly agreed and became the first principal of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Blind.
In 1864, Gallaudet sought college status for the Columbia Institution and got it when President Abraham Lincoln
signed a bill into law which authorized the Columbia Institution to award college degrees—a law which was not strictly necessary, but which Gallaudet desired. This first college of the deaf became Gallaudet University
.
Edward Miner Gallaudet was the president of Gallaudet College/Columbia for 46 years (1864–1910), was the head administrator for 53 years (1857–1910), and was the President of the Board of Directors for 47 years (1864–1911). He was a staunch advocate of sign language
. He recognized the value of speech training, but also recognized that speech training was not for everyone.
Gallaudet was awarded honorary degrees by Trinity College
in 1859 (M.A.) and 1869 (LL.D.), the Columbian University (later George Washington University
) also in 1869 (Ph.D.), and Yale University
in 1895 (LL.D.).
After retiring from Gallaudet College, Edward Miner Gallaudet returned to his hometown of Hartford, Connecticut.
A statue commemorating Gallaudet's life and works resides on the campus of Gallaudet University, which was sculpted by Pietro Lazzari.
He is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford.
Edson Fessenden Gallaudet
, who was Edward Miner Gallaudet's fifth child (and second child with his second wife Susan) was an early pioneer in the field of aviation, being the first to experiment with wing warping, and the founder of the first aircraft factory in America.
(National Cyclopædia of American Biography, Volume 9, New York: James T. White & Company, 1899, pp. 140–141.)
"As eternity is longer than time, as mind is stronger than matter, as thought is swifter than the wind, as genius is more potent than gold, so will the results of well-directed labors toward the development of man's higher faculties ever outweigh a thousand fold any estimate in the currency of commerce, which man can put upon such efforts."--Edward Miner Gallaudet, 1870.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, LL.D., was a renowned American pioneer in the education of the Deaf. Along with Laurent Clerc and Mason Cogswell, he co-founded the first institution for the education of the Deaf in North America, and he became its first principal...
and Sophia Fowler Gallaudet
Sophia Fowler Gallaudet
Sophia Fowler Gallaudet , was the wife of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. As the founding matron of the school that became Gallaudet University, she played an important role in Deaf history, even playing a key role in lobbying Congressmen in the effort to establish Gallaudet...
, was a famous early educator of the deaf in Washington, DC. As a youth, he enjoyed working with tools and also built an "electrical machine." He kept birds, fowl and rabbits, spending most of his time in the city, but also occasionally venturing into the country. He had a fond memory of climbing a hill with his father, and another fond memory of his father introducing the subject of geometry to him. His father died when he was 14, just after he graduated from Hartford High School. He then went to work at a bank for three years. He didn't like the "narrowing effect" of the mental monotony of the work, and he quit to go to work as a teacher at the school his father founded. He worked there two years, from 1855 to 1857. While he was teaching, he continued his education at Trinity College
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...
in Hartford, completing his studies for a bachelor of science degree two years later.
In 1857, Amos Kendall
Amos Kendall
Amos Kendall was an American politician who served as U.S. Postmaster General under Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Many historians regard Kendall as the intellectual force behind Andrew Jackson's presidential administration, and an influential figure in the transformation of America from an...
donated 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) of land for the establishment of a school for the deaf and blind in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and asked Gallaudet to come to Washington to help lead this school. Edward Miner quickly agreed and became the first principal of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Blind.
In 1864, Gallaudet sought college status for the Columbia Institution and got it when President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
signed a bill into law which authorized the Columbia Institution to award college degrees—a law which was not strictly necessary, but which Gallaudet desired. This first college of the deaf became Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
.
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
. He recognized the value of speech training, but also recognized that speech training was not for everyone.
Gallaudet was awarded honorary degrees by Trinity College
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...
in 1859 (M.A.) and 1869 (LL.D.), the Columbian University (later George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
) also in 1869 (Ph.D.), and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1895 (LL.D.).
After retiring from Gallaudet College, Edward Miner Gallaudet returned to his hometown of Hartford, Connecticut.
A statue commemorating Gallaudet's life and works resides on the campus of Gallaudet University, which was sculpted by Pietro Lazzari.
He is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford.
Edson Fessenden Gallaudet
Edson Fessenden Gallaudet
Edson Fessenden Gallaudet was a pioneer in the field of aviation, being the first person to experiment with warped wings in 1896. In 1898, he built a warping-wing kite to test his invention of a warping-wing mechanism; this kite survives and is on display in the National Air and Space Museum in...
, who was Edward Miner Gallaudet's fifth child (and second child with his second wife Susan) was an early pioneer in the field of aviation, being the first to experiment with wing warping, and the founder of the first aircraft factory in America.
Biographical Article in the National Cyclopædia of American Biography
GALLAUDET, Edward Miner, educator, was born at Hartford, Conn., Feb. 5, 1837, youngest son of Rev. Thomas Hopkins and Sophia (Fowler) Gallaudet. After attending the high school of his native city for three years, he became, at the age of fourteen and a half, a clerk in the Phœnix Bank in the same place. He was several times promoted, and received flattering offers from other banks, but in 1854 gave uр business and entered Trinity College. In two years' time he completed a course of study which entitled him to the degree of B.S. In this time he covered ground ordinarily requiring four years of study, and often had recitations with the four college classes at the same time, in December, 1855, he began teaching three hours a day in the School for Deaf-Mutes, at Hartford, founded by his father, and on his graduation at college, in 1856, he assumed full duties as an instructor in that institution. In May, 1857, Mr. Gallaudet was invited to Washington, D. C., by Hon. Amos Kendall, to organize a new school for deaf-mutes, chartered by congress, in February of that year. Though not of legal age he at once took charge of this important institution, with the assurance from the board of directors, of which Mr. Kendall was president, that they looked with favor on his scheme, then definitely proposed, to develop the new school into a college. In 1864 congress gave the Columbia Institution collegiate powers, and Mr. Gallaudet, at the age of twenty-seven, was made president of the college he had founded. Liberal appropriations from congress have enabled the college to carry out the plans of its president for the higher education of the deaf, and after thirty-five years of most successful work it is still the only college for the deaf in the world. Beautiful grounds and buildings have been provided by congress, and an ample corps of professors carries forward the education of young deaf-mutes of both sexes to the point of graduation in the liberal arts. Pres. Gallaudet, besides conducting the affairs of the institution in all its departments, planning and superintending the erection of its buildings, has found time for considerable literary work, and has visited Europe four times in the interest of his profession. He has been a contributor to the "American Annals of the Deaf," the "New Englander," the "Penn Monthly," "Harper's Monthly," "International Review," and other publications. In 1879 he published a "Manual of International Law," now used as a text-book in many colleges. In 1887 he published a "Life of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (his father). Founder of Deaf-Mute Education in America." His first visit to Europe was in 1867, after which he published a report on schools for the deaf in Europe, which exerted an important influence in promoting the oral teaching of the deaf in this country. His second official Visit to Europe was made in 1880, when he went as a delegate to an international convention of instructors of the deaf at Milan. He took an active part in the discussions of the convention, and commented on its proceedings in the London "Times" and several American journals. In 1886 Dr. Gallaudet was invited by the British government to visit London for the purpose of giving testimony before the royal commission on the blind, deaf and dumb, etc. He appeared before the commission in November, and it is understood that his account of methods approved in America had an important influence in shaping the policy of the commission, whose recommendations have been favorably considered by parliament. Dr. Gallaudet has been for thirty years chairman of the executive committee of the convention of American institutes of the deaf; was one of the founders and has been president of the Cosmos Club; was Garfield's successor as president of the Literary Society of Washington; is an active member of the American Social Science Association, and has been chairman of the department of education: is a member of the Philosophical and Anthropological societies of Washington, and of the American Historical Society and the Huguenot Society, and is president of the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. The degree of Ph.D. was conferred upon him by Columbian University [George Washington University], in 1869, and that of LL.D. by Trinity College, Hartford, the same year, and by Yale University, in 1895. Dr. Gallaudet was married, in Hartford, Conn., July 20, 1858, to Jane M. Fessenden, daughter of Edson and Lydia W. Fessenden. Mrs. Gallaudet died in 1866. He was married again, Dec. 22, 1868, to Susan, daughter of Joseph A. and Elizabeth (Skinner) Denison. He has three sons and three daughters.(National Cyclopædia of American Biography, Volume 9, New York: James T. White & Company, 1899, pp. 140–141.)
Quotations
"Deafness, though it be total and congenital, imposes no limits on the intellectual development of its subjects, save in the single direction of the appreciation of acoustic phenomena."--Edward Miner Gallaudet, 1869."As eternity is longer than time, as mind is stronger than matter, as thought is swifter than the wind, as genius is more potent than gold, so will the results of well-directed labors toward the development of man's higher faculties ever outweigh a thousand fold any estimate in the currency of commerce, which man can put upon such efforts."--Edward Miner Gallaudet, 1870.
See also
- Gallaudet UniversityGallaudet UniversityGallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
- Bilingual-bicultural educationBilingual-bicultural educationBilingual-bicultural or BiBi education programs use sign language as the native, or first, language of deaf children. In the United States, for example, American Sign Language is the natural first language for deaf children...
- Peter Wallace GallaudetPeter Wallace GallaudetPeter Wallace Gallaudet, was a personal secretary to US President George Washington in Philadelphia. He married Jane "Jeannette" Hopkins of Hartford, Connecticut in 1787....