Abstract of Project Funded for FY 1999
| Biding the Time: American Deaf History, 1900 to World War II
Susan Burch, History and Government Virtually no historical work has addressed the period between the Milan Conference of 1880 and Stokoe’s linguistic work in the 1960s. This research project begins to address this need by investigating the history of the Deaf community from 1900 to World War II. Cultural Maintenance, which reveals Deaf agency rather than Deaf victimhood, is a central theme in this work. As with all minority American histories, extensive studies of the Deaf community reveal both cultural cohesion and varied sub-cultures. This work includes an evaluation of race, class, and gender issues, as well as unifying issues within the community. Much of the research for this project is available in Washington, DC. The Gallaudet University Archives, Volta Bureau, and Library of Congress hold seminal materials about Deaf history in the first half of the twentieth century. However, many important documents from the time period in question only are housed in other regions. Moreover, several chapters rely extensively on oral interviews with Deaf people in various states. At this point funding is necessary to continue research at these regional centers, and to conduct videotaped interviews. |