James Silk Buckingham

(1786-1855), Writer and traveller

English author and traveller that spent much of his life was spent travelling and lecturing and writing about his journeys. In one of his books he gives a first hand impression of the early work of the New York Institute.

One of the most interesting of the benevolent institutions of New York, is the Asylum for the Blind. This is agreeably situated at a short distance from New York, at a place called Bellevue, overlooking the Hudson river and the Jersey shore, where a suitable building, with all the requisite auxiliaries for the purposes of the institution, has been erected, on ground worth 10,000 dollars, which was liberally given for the purpose by Mr. James Boorman, a merchant of New York. The society was first organized in 1831, and owes its origin to Dr. Samuel Ackerly, a benevolent physician, and Mr. Samuel Wood, a member of the Society of Friends, who were afterwards joined by Dr. John Russ.

These gentlemen presented a petition to the legislature of the State, praying for the incorporation of the Society, which was granted; and in March 1832, the institution was first opened, with three blind children from the alms-houses of New York, who had lost their sight by ophthalmia, to which three others were added in May of the same year; and with these six, the school of instruction first began. In 1833, the directors were engaged in obtaining from Europe all the information they could collect respecting the best method of teaching the blind; and in 1838 they had so far succeeded, as to be able to hold a public exhibition of the proficiency of the pupils, in various branches of manual labour, as well as of mental exercise, in both of which there were performers scarcely inferior to those of youth of the same age possessing sight.

In 1834, the number of pupils had increased to 26; in 1835, there were 41; in 1836, there were 58; and in 1837, there were 60; the increased numbers being occasioned by the increased means of the Institution to provide for their support and instruction, though still forming a very small proportion of the whole number of blind in the state of New York, which had been ascertained, by the census of 1830, to be more than 800 persons.

The funds by which this institution is supported are contributed partly by voluntary contributions, and partly by the State, according to a usage very common in America, and well worthy of imitation in other countries, namely, that whenever private individuals raise, by voluntary contribution, a sum for any given benevolent purpose, the State contributes an equal or sometimes a larger sum; in return for which, it enjoys a share of the superintendence, and the power of placing claimants, who are destitute of other patronage, within the reach of its benefits. Where individuals contribute the whole support to such institutions, it is generally found that they languish for want of funds; and where the State contributes the whole, it is as generally found that they decline, for want of due vigilance in the superintendence. But both these evils are avoided by this joint contribution of means, and joint interest and responsibility, and the practical working of the system shews its decided superiority to every other. In the instance of the Institution for the Blind, the State agreed that so soon as 8,000 dollars were raised by voluntary contributions, and placed in a given bank, the public funds should furnish 12,000 dollars, to make the capital of the institution 20,000; and the interest of this, with the annual subscriptions, legacies, donations, collections at public meetings, exhibitions of manufactures, and concerts of music held by the blind pupils at stated periods of the year, furnish ample funds for the support of the Institution, and the gradual increase of its accommodation for pupils.

The time of the pupils is divided into three parts, and their instruction is arranged and organized into three departments--intellectual, mechanical, and musical. The superintendent has the entire direction of all the internal concerns of the Institution, besides which, he gives daily lectures to the pupils on various subjects of knowledge and science adapted to their capacities, and occasionally takes part in the instruction of a class.

The school is regularly opened twice a day for instruction in reading, writing, grammar, geography, arithmetic, and history. Reading is accomplished by feeling the pages of a book with embossed or raised letters. Perfection in this is readily acquired by some of the blind, and with difficulty by others. Children have a greater sensibility of feeling in the extremity of the fingers than grown persons; and those whose hands have been hardened by work, have this feeling blunted. Even those whose sensibility of touch is so great as to enable them to read with facility the books printed for the blind, have this capacity greatly abated or destroyed when the fingers are cold, dirty, wet with perspiration, or rough with mechanical employments. Hence it is, that all the pupils do not engage in this exercise and that the best class of readers is composed of young females, and of male children not engaged in the workshops.

Writing is best performed with a pencil, as a blind person cannot see to the perfection of the pen, or the flow of the ink, and its regular supply; and when the pen is raised, the place to recommence cannot be correctly ascertained. Various contrivances have been suggested and tried for this purpose; but the simplest is that of a grooved pasteboard, on which the paper is placed, and the grooves guide the pencil of the writer in a straight line.

Much of the instruction conveyed to the blind is oral. Their want of sight abstracts them from external objects, and in many cases renders them highly intellectual. Hence their memories are very tenacious and retentive, and they acquire a perfect knowledge of grammar, geography, and history, by oral communication with their teachers. Among the pupils in the school of this Institution, the superintendent feels confident he can turn out a class (and some of them quite young) equal in grammar and geography to any class of the same number in any other school. The details of geography are also conveyed by oral instruction, but maps and globes with raised lines, grooves, prominences, points, 'c. have been prepared for the blind, and the pupils are exercised upon them by feeling out rivers, lakes, mountains, coasts, bays, towns, and other things thereon delineated. A knowledge of history depends altogether upon the tenacity of the memory in retaining what the teachers read to them.

Arithmetic is acquired both mentally and mechanically. Several have a remarkable capacity for this science, and in them the organ of numbers is largely developed; hence they find no difficulty in calculating, mentally, problems in arithmetic involving many figures.

Music is also cultivated, both vocal and instrumental; and considerable proficiency has been attained in both, by the pupils, so that public concerts are occasionally given by them for the benefit of the Institution, at which none but the pupils perform, and this they do with great credit to themselves.

Many are thus taught, beyond their mere literary attainments, the knowledge of some useful art, by the practice of which they can maintain themselves independently when they leave the Institution; and the only matter of regret is, that such asylums are not sufficiently numerous in all countries, to secure to every person afflicted with blindness the enjoyment and independence which study and the pursuit of some useful occupation is certain to secure, and which might be thus easily brought within the reach of all.

America, historical, statistic, and descriptive. Vol 1By J. S. Buckingham,
published in London by Fisher, Son & co. [1841] pages 144-148