history

We Should Not Forget: A Black History Month Profile of Vince Male

A Museum guest blog by the Rev. Dr. Eugene A. Bourquin Sometimes our history – our heroes – slip...

The History of Puzzle Maps

When I first started working in the museum at APH in 2005, I’d often commandeer my young son and nephews...

The Blind Detective in Popular Culture

This month, on the museum’s Facebook and Twitter, we’re posting some photos and brief histories of blind detectives in fiction,...

The Carrier’s Address

I stumbled across something interesting while cataloging the archives of the Kentucky School for the Blind Alumni Association yesterday. Historians...

Christmas Letters to Helen

In 1933, Miss Elizabeth Aitkin sent Helen Keller a handful of letters from her third and fourth grade classes in...

Piney Woods Country Life School

For a small exhibit this fall I researched two Hall of Fame recipients, Dr. Laurence C. Jones and Martha Morrow...

A Lot of Dots

Photos above from Museum Archives: Hall braillewriter 1892; APH employees typing braille printing plates with stereograph machines, c. 1945; detail...

A Barrel of Documents

My journey of discovery started when I found two folders in the American Foundation for the Blind Archive folders, both...

National Museum Education Associates Appreciation Day

There is a National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day (January 31), a National Squirrel Appreciation Day (January 21), even a National...

How the Helen Keller Archive Began

When I started working in the AFB (American Foundation for the Blind) Helen Keller Archive at APH in October of...

We Are Open

I’ve been pretty excited this week. It’s been almost sixteen months since we had a visitor in the museum, but...

The Chair Went Out the Window

Museum objects and their stories are codependent. The artifact is the real deal. After all, it was there when history...

The Teacher as North Star

May is Teacher Appreciation Month in the U.S., but here in the museum at the American Printing House for the...

Connecting with History Virtually

On March 17, 2020, I was sitting at my desk at APH, mulling over what we should do about the...