happy birthday, mary ingalls
The Museum Educator at the Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind contacted me a few weeks ago with information about their plans for a January celebration in honor of the birth of Mary Ingalls, sister of "Little House" author Laura Ingalls Wilder. They hope to make this an annual event, beginning with next year's January 9, 2010 event -- Mary's actual birthday was January 10, remember, but you can't expect it to fall on the proper weekend day each year!

The project will include an exhibit, a documentary video, a blind fiddler, and they will be creating a web presence for Mary in conjunction with the event. The Museum is choosing to highlight Mary Ingalls as representative of the well-educated blind in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century United States. Those of us who read and love the "Little House" books know that Ma and Pa wanted Mary to be able to continue her education after she lost her sight, but this was not the norm at the time Mary went to college.

Hopefully, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society (in De Smet, South Dakota) and the Laura Ingalls Wilder / Rose Wilder Lane Home and Museum (in Mansfield, Missouri) will jump on board and provide much needed information about Mary's life in De Smet after she was graduated from the Iowa College for the Blind (in Vinton, Iowa). If readers have any information to share, contact the Museum staff directly.

The American Printing House for the Blind is located in Louisville, Kentucky. Check out their information about Braille writers, slates, and other 19th century devices used by the blind. Mary Ingalls' Braille slate (actually, New York Point, similar to THIS one) is on display in Mansfield. Did you know that both Carrie and Grace learned to read and write in New York Point so that they could communicate with sister Mary? They also used it in their own letters to each other, when they wanted what they were writing to not be easily read by others! De Smet has several postcards and letters that contain phrases in NYP (using ink dots) among the handwritten words.
- posted by pioneergirl at 2:07 PM