Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2019 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== HISTORY OF THE OHIO INSTITUTION For The EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB LOCATED AT COLUMBUS The first movement made in the State of Ohio to establish an Institution of its own, for the education of the Deaf and Dumb, was at Cincinnati in the year 1821. To what extent deaf mutes in the State had availed themselves of the ^educational advantages offered from 1817, by Eastern institutions, is not definitely known. Freeman Burt, from Cincinnati, had entered the Hartford school in the spring of 1818, and had remained there three years and a half at his own expense. Josiah Price, of Stark County, applied for legislative aid during the session of 1819-20, in sending his son to Hartford, and a bill was introduced to that effect by the appropriate committee, but it was never enacted. A pupil from Ohio was a member of the Philadelphia school in 1821. It was in the spring of this year, 1821, that an association of gentlemen was formed in Cincinnati " for establishing a school for the instruction of the Deaf and Dumb in this part of the Western country." Rev. James Chute was selected as Principal of the Institution, and sent to the American Asylum at Hartford to acquire the art essential to qualify him for the successful discharge of his duties. Mr. Chute, upon his arrival in July, was cordially received, and was offered every facility available. He spent but four months, however, in these preliminary studies - a period much too short for the acquisition of even tolerable skill. In December of the same vear, the association applied to the Legislature for an act of incorporation, under the name of "The Western Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb," and for pecuniary aid. The application was unsuccessful, on the ground that an Institution of this character, designed to meet the wants of the deaf and dumb of the State, should be centrally located. The interest thus awakened was fostered by a letter, under date of January 3, 1822, received by the Governor of the State from the Directors of the Philadelphia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, then recently organized. It states that "returns of the deaf and dumb have been made from the different counties of the State (Pennsylvania), in accordance Avith a recent legal enactment, and what was apprehended by some is now reduced to a painful certainty - their number being found much greater than had been generally supposed. This, we presume, will prove to be the case in our sister States, considering how much neglect such unfortunate persons too often suffer, and the motive to concealment which their friends and parents find in their personal feelings, when there is no prospect of giving them relief." The Directors describe at length the facilities which they have provided for the education of deaf mutes, and invite the attendance of pupils from Ohio upon the same terms as from their own State. They also invite the Legislature to make an annual appropriation, to be applied under the direction of the Governor, for the education of the deaf and dumb, "in some suitable and convenient Institution." The invitation was not accepted. In the session of 1822-3, an act was passed requiring "the listers of the several townships in each county of the State, at the time of taking the enumeration of white persons, to ascertain the number of deaf and dumb, of all ages, and to return said lists to the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of said county." This enumeration, carefully taken, resulted in the return of four hundred and twenty-eight deaf mutes, not including Athens and Hamilton Counties, the latter being also the most populous county in the State. Two hundred and eighty-eight were returned asunder twenty years of age. Of the whole number, 279 were returned as "poor," 66 as in "middling circumstances," 72 as in "good circumstances," and of 11 no report is given. It was plain that in the State at that time, possessing a population of about 600,000, at least 200 mute children of school age stood in need of education, and, furthermore, that without pecuniary assistance, education, in the case of most, would be impossible. The way was thus prepared for a successful effort to establish an Institution at the legislative session of 1826-7. The Rev. James Hoge, D. D., of Columbus, a gentleman to whom, excepting those within the Institution itself, the deaf mutes of the State are more indebted than to any other individual, was the immediate agent in attaining this much desired object. Through the influence of Dr. Hoge, the benighted condition of the deaf and dumb was- brought to the attention of Governor Morrow, and the result was a strong recommendation, in his message to the Legislature in the autumn of this year, to establish an Institution for their benefit. The subject was referred in the House to a select committee of three. An elaborate memorial, prepared by Dr. Hoge, and signed by a large number of prominent citizens, was presented to this committee, detailing, at length, the destitute condition of the deaf and dumb - the efforts that had been made in foreign countries, and recently in our own, for their relief - and the entire success that might be attained in their education. Some statements of the memorial, with regard to the state of deaf mutes previous to instruction, and their ignorance of spiritual and moral truths, were, at the time, received even by intelligent persons with much credulity, although observation and experience have abundantly proved their correctness. A bill for incorporating the Institution was reported by the committee, which passed both Houses, without serious opposition. The bill appointed a Board of Trustees, with the usual corporate powers - allowed them to hold property for the object specified - the annual income of which should not exceed $30,000; and provided for the support of one pupil from each judicial circuit in the State, at an annual expense not exceeding S100 (to be paid out of the Literary Fund), and for a period not exceeding three years, the time generally fixed upon at the outset by the several States as the proper period for the education of the deaf and dumb. Before an actual organization was effected under this act of incorporation, there was a movement in a different part of the State that deserves mention. It was the opening of a school for deaf mutes in the town of Tallmadge, in Summit County. The object seems to have been to supply an immediate want, rather than to establish a permanent Institution. In the family of Mr. Justus Bradley, of this town, were three daughters who were deaf mutes. The sympathy of the citizens being excited in their behalf, it was found that there were in the neighboring townships a number of other individuals laboring under the same misfortune; and it was determined to commence a school for their instruction. For this purpose a Board of Trustees was organized, consisting of Rev. John Keys, Elizur Wright, Garry Treat, A. C. Wright, Philo Wright and Alpha Wright. The school was opened in May, 1827, under the instruction of Mr. Colonel Smith, a deaf mute, wTho had been for six years a pupil in the Asylum at Hartford, and was continued two years. It contained in all eleven pupils, most of whom were afterward members of the school at Columbus. It was sustained by private charity, writh the exception of $100 given it by the Legislature, in 1828, toward paying the salary of the teacher. The same bill also granted $100 for the next year, provided the school at Columbus did not previously go into operation. This last sum does not appear to have been drawn from the treasury. The first Board of Trustees of the Institution at Columbus, under the act of incorporation, consisted of the following gentlemen : Rev. James Hoge, D. D., and Gustavus Swan, Esq., of Franklin County; Thomas Ewing, Esq., of Fairfield County ; Rev. William Graham, of Ross County; Rev. Wm. Burton, of Pickaway County; John H. James. Esq., of Champaign County; Thomas D. Webb, Esq., of Trumbull County, and Samuel Clark, Esq., of Clarke County. The Governor of the State was ex-officio President of the Board, and Dr. Hoge was chosen Secretary. They met and organized on the 9th of July, and their first report to the Legislature was made in December, 1827. In this report they estimate that, should an institution be opened, there is a reasonable prospect, in the course of the year, of from fifty to seventy-five pupils. As the revenues of the State were, at this time, principally engrossed in a great work of internal improvement - uniting the waters of Lake Erie with the Ohio River - the sources of income to meet the necessary expenses of the Institution were a matter of no small interest. Of these, three were proposed by the Trustees: 1st, a share in the Literary Fund; 2d, an application to Congress for a township of land; 3d, opening a paper at the office of the County Clerk of each County for private subscriptions. The trustees close their report by recommending that, from a due regard for the welfare of the Institution and to public sentiment, as far as they can ascertain, it be located at Columbus, alleging that "Here it will be under the eye, and subject to the inspection, of the Legislature at all times; and, also, that the facilities of intercourse and conveyance which are collected at this point, render it more convenient to any point in this State than any other place "- reasons which have lost none of their force by the lapse of time. By an act of the Legislature, passed January,. 1829, the Institution was located at Columbus. The gentleman selected as Principal of the Institution was Mr. Horatio N. Hubbell, who went to Hartford in March, 1828, to qualify himself for his new duties, and who remained there in the prosecution of his object about a year and a half. The school was opened October 16, 1829, in a small building, rented for the purpose, standing on the northwest corner of Broad and High streets. The buildinghas since been removed. A lady was employed to board the pupils at a fixed rate. The prospect at the opening was sufficiently discouraging. Only three pupils were present, and these were from the immediate vicinity. One of the three proved idiotic; another was a boy of weak intellect, and not long afterward became hopelessly insane. Yet these were all that could be gathered, notwithstanding a circular, stating the objects of the school, had been published for some months previously in the principal parts of the State. Before the close of the term, however, the number of the pupils increased to ten, and in the course of the next year to twenty-two, and an assistant teacher was employed at the commencement of the second year. After the schools were once in operation, the number of pupils began steadily to increase, and it was soon necessary to obtain other assistance in the department of instruction. The school subsequently removed to a building in the rear of the present Buckeye House, next to rooms in the old Court House, and next to No. 28 North Front street, where it remained until its removal to its permanent home upon grounds of its own, in 1834. At the outset of the history of the institution, it was hoped that its support might be provided for by the proceeds of the sale of a township of land, which it was expeccted could be obtained from the general Government by Congressional grants, as had been done in the case of the Hartford and Kentucky Asylums. This was urged by the Trustees in their first annual report, and had also been mentioned by Governor Morrow in his message recommending the founding of the institution. Governor McArthur, in his message to the Assembly of 1830-1, advised that a memorial be presented to Congress on this subject. This was done, and an act passed the Legislature directing the members of Congress from the State to use their influence in forwarding the measure. A bill granting a township passed one House of Congress without' opposition, and it was confidentially expected that it would meet with equal favor in the other branch. The bill, however, was not reached in the order of business before the body adjourned. The first appropriation of money made to the institution by the Legislature was during the session of 1827-8. This was the sum of $376.60, being, at the time, the unexpended balance of the Literary Fund, and was used in defraying the expenses of the Principal at the Hartford school. In 1834, $2,239 were also granted from the same fund to complete the buildings. An act was passed during the session of 1831-2, appropriating to the use of the Institution onefourth of the money accruing from the auction sales, taxes, etc., of Hamilton county. The amount at first annually realized from this source w^as something^over $2,000. It became less in succeeding years, and was finally turned into some other channel. The deficiency was made up by direct appropriations, which eventually became the sole source of support. During the session of 1829-30, an act was passed authorizing the support of one indigent pupil from each of the nine judicial circuits of the State, the pupil to-be "selected by the Board of Trustees, from persons recommended by the associate judges of the counties where they reside." At the session of 1830-31, the support of an additional pupil from each circuit was authorized. At the session of 1832-3, this number Avas increased to three ; and during that of 1833-4, the Trustees were authorized to admit thirty-six State pupils, and twelve additional ones annually, till the number should equal sixty. At each of these periods the provision made was intended and supposed to be sufficient to meet the probable number of applications. During the session of 1844 these limitations wrere repealed, and the Trustees were instructed to admit all suitable applicants. It was provided, in the act of incorporation, that the annual expense of each pupil should not exceed $100 for the session of ten months. This was reduced, by the act of 1831, to $75, which was found to be about the actual expense at that time. In 1837, it was again fixed at $100. By the Constitution of 1852, it was provided that "institutions for the benefit of the insane, blind, deaf and dumb, shall always be fostered and supported by the State, and be subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by the General Assembly." And from that date on, the expenses of the Institution were met by aggregate appropriations. At present the ordinary cost per annuin is about $200 per pupil. The time at first contemplated as sufficient for the course of instruction was. as has already been stated, three years. At the session of 1833, this time was increased to four years, and in 1834 to five years. In 1844, an act was passed allowing the Trustees to retain pupils, at their discretion, for a period longer than five years, and not exceeding seven. This limit, in 1866, was extended to ten. One of the first objects of attention on the part of the Legislature, after incorporating the Institution, was to provide a proper location, and to erect suitable buildings for its accommodation. Indeed, in the act of incorporation itself, it was made the duty of the Board of Trustees at that time appointed to report to the General Assembly, among other particulars, with regard to the locality, plans, buildings, &c, necessary for an Institution, and in January. 1829, prior to the opening of the school, an appropriation was made to purchase a site. This was secured in the February following. A tract, consisting of three outlots, containing three and a third acres each, lying about half a mile east of the State House, was selected and purchased for three hundred dollars, the land being considered as about one-half a donation at the time. The selection was most admirably made. The grounds, embracing an area of ten acres, are ample in extent, the soil of the finest quality, the water abundant and excellent, and the situation easy of access and almost unparalleled as to its healthfulness. The first building for the use of the school was commenced in 1832, and was occupied at the opening of the fall term of 1834. The building was fifty feet by eighty. and three stories high, the general plan of the one in New York having been adopted. It was designed to provide school, lodging, dining, and sitting rooms for from sixty to eighty pupils, and was supposed to be large enough to meet the wants of t he Institution for a longtime to come. The increase of pupils soon showed it to be much too small. A wing, seventy by thirty, and four stories high, was added to the south end of the original building in 1845-6. It 1856, a building one hundred and thirty-five, and two stories high, designed ultimately for shop rooms, was added to the accommodations of the family, and from that time on until the opening of the new house, in 1868, the attendance continued at one hundred and fifty. In 1863, the necessity for enlargement had become so urgent that the General Assembly, without a dissenting vote, enacted a bill providing for the erection of the present structure. It was first occupied in the fall of 1868. It is the most extensive and commodious structure devoted to the education of deaf mutes to be found anywhere, and deserves more particular description. It consists of seven buildings, suitably connected, and was erected at a cost of $650,000. It is built of brick, and is elaborately trimmed with stone. The roofing is of slate, the cornice of galvanized iron, and the balconies, pillars, railing and floor, of iron. The number of bricks required was 8,000,000 ; the roof cornice is 3,800 feet in length ; the gas pipe measures two miles ; the interior walls and ceilings have a surface of twelve acres, and the floors a surface of four acres. The windows number 800. The front building, 270 feet in length, is surmounted by seven towers, the central one being 115 feet high, the two at its side 105 feet, and the four at the corners 97 feet. The center tower has been finished to the top, and from it, ascending by a spiral staircase, visitors have a magnificent view of the city. This front building is divided by a hall ten feet wide, runningits entire length, upon every story, each story above the basement being fifteen feet high. The use of this buildingis for offices, library, museum, hospitals, parlors, sewing and store-rooms, and chambers occupied by teachers, officers and employes. Attached to the front building are three wrings, running north. The central wing, 145 by 40 feet, is occupied by the kitchen and adjacent store-rooms, the diningroom, and a chapel 23 feet in height. The two exterior wings extend north 115 feet, affording a hall the entire length, and adjacent rooms for baggage, clothing, washing, bathing and water-closets. Attached to these exterior wings, and extending at right angles to them 110 feet east and west, are two wings, 40 feet wide, called the boys' and girls" wings. The first story is used as a play-room. The second is the sitting or study-room, and is used out of school and work hours. The two upper stories are dormitories. These side wings return by corridors to the central wing, which continues by the bakery and store-rooms in the basement, and by corridors in every story, to the school building in the rear. This building is 115 by 55 feet, is three stories high, and contains twenty-three school-rooms. Still further to the rear is a building 100 feet square, from the corner of which rises the ventilating shaft, 115 feet high. This building contains the boilers, engines and pumps used for heating the main building, and for supplying every part with water. The second story is occupied by the machinery and appliances of the laundry. The Institution can accommodate four hundred pupils, and has had that number for three years past. The yearly period of instruction is forty weeks. The vacation, of twelve weeks, pupils spend at their homes. Deaf mutes of ordinary health, morals and mental capacity, are admissible between the years of six and twenty-one, and may remain such a portion of ten years as their progress and and conduct may justify. The course of instruction, with children of ordinary intellect, requires ten years of study. It is divided into three departments, called Primary, Grammar and Academic, and covering four, three and three years, respectively. The Primary classes, at present fifteen in number, are engaged in the acquisition of the simpler forms of language, and use reading books especially prepared for the deaf and dumb. These classes also acquire a good knowdedge of penmanship, the fundamental rules of arithmetic and a first book in geography. The Grammar classes, five in number, continue to study language, making use of the easy readers of the public schools. They continue the study of arithmetic and geography, and also take up histories of the United States. Penmanship is succeeded in these classes by drawing. The Academic classes, two in in number, continue the daily study and practice of composition. They add to arithmetic the study of algebra, From physical geography they pass to natural history and science, using the current elementary text books in natural history, chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy and botany. General history is taken up. and also some practical treatise upon civil government and political economy. Drawing in these classes is carried to a point of decided excellence. When called for, a section, also, is taught Latin enough to secure admission to the National Deaf Mute College at Washington, D. C. From all departments and classes daily details are made of those pupils who are likely to profit by instruction in articulation and lip reading. About one-tenth of the whole number are thus taught, and with sufficient profit to fully justify the attention and cost. Pupils of the two higher departments are encouraged in the constant use of the library, which has been selected and is replenished, from time to time, with especial reference to their wants. A weekly paper, the Mate's Chronicle, has been published at the Institution for eight years. The pupils of the Academic department, with some from below, have sustained for years a flourishing Literary Society, called the "Clionian." By its regular meetings, held upon Saturday evenings, and by its occasional exhibitions, it affords voluntary occupation to the more active and ambitious minds, and also contributes to the increase of general intelligence and dignified culture. The length of the school-clay is five hours, divided into two sessions, and combined by a system of rotation, with two and one-half hours of manual labor. School keeps every day in the week, that of Saturday closing at noon, and that of Sunday lasting forty-five min- utes, and being occupied with subjects apppropriate to the day. On Sabbath morning, also, the oldest third of the school attend a religious service, lasting one hour, conducted by the Superintendent ; and in the afternoon the second third attend a similar service, lasting thirty minutes, conducted by the Superintendent. An hour of each evening, and with the older pupils, an hour and a half, is spent in the preparation of the next day's lessons. As to the medium of communication in the school and the household, it is, first, oral speech, where possible ; second, written speech, where it is intelligible, and does not unduly weary ; and thirdly, where neither oral nor written speech are feasible, the mutes own pantomine,- remembering ever that it is but a scaffolding, employed by the safe builder, until the real structure - language - is completed, to be then laid aside. The mute will, indeed, always return to it with the affection felt by every person for his own vernacular tongue; but living, as he does, surrounded by speaking persons, he will, however reluctantly, conform to their chosen medium of ideas, looking forward with earnest hope to that great unfolding, when the many tongues of earth, discordant now, will blend in one universal language. The subject of workshops early engaged the attention of the friends of the Institution, and their erection was strongly recommended in the reports of that period. It was with great force argued that some part of the intervals of relaxation from study might be profitably employed in learning a useful trade, and thus skill be acquired, and habits of industry, formed, which would be of great advantage to them in after life. Accordingly, in 1838, a twostory building, twenty by sixty, was erected for this object. The only trade introduced was that of shoemaking. Such of the pupils as were of suitable age were employed four hours a day, under the instruction of a man engaged for this purpose. The arrangement was followed for a number of years with all the success that could have been expected under the circumstances. The system a1 fchat time favored was evidently an unfortunate one. The only compensation which the person employed to teach the trade received was the labor of the boys, His apparent interest would be to obtain the greatest possible amount of labor, without reference to the improvement of the pupil. The obvious inference should have been, not that the whole matter should be abandoned, but that it should be conducted on different principles. The contract ha vino- expired, it was not renewed. In 1863 shoemaking was resumed, the State providing a foreman and materials. Under this efficient system the instruction of mutes in useful mechanical labor has since continued. In 1867 an enactment of the Legislature required the addition to the mechanical instruction of the Institution of the arts of printing and bookbinding. The quarters occupied by these trades were the building. 130 by 35. previously referred to. To foster the operation of this enlargement of the industrial department without detriment to the literary education of the pupils, a combination of the two was established, in accordance with the following method: The school is divided into three divisions, consisting at present of seven, seven and eight classes. The day is also divided into three sessions of two. two and three hours, the first extending from half-past seven to half-past nine ; the second from half-past ten to half-past twelve: and the third from. two to five, with half an hour's recess at half-past three; At half-past seven the regular duties of the day begin. Two divisions go to their respective class rooms, and the third is distributed, the boys to their trades and the girls to the bindery and the housework. All are dismissed at half-past nine. At half-past ten, after the chapel service, two divisions go to their class-rooms, and one is distributed as before, the boys to their shops and the girls to the bindery and the housework. All are dismissed at half-past twelve, the hour for dinner. At two o'clock, as before, two divisions go to school, and the third to the trades and housework. Thus, in working hours, from half-past seven in the morning until five in the afternoon, two-thirds of the scholars are at school, and one-third is at work. Every pupil attends sehool two sessions daily and works one session. The average daily time spent at school is something less than five hours, and that spent in manual labor is about two hours and a half. To secure a fair distribution of time, and also a desirable variety, the assignment moves forward one session the first day of each month, so that those who work in the morning any month, work the next month in the forenoon, and in the afternoon the month after that. Those who work in the forenoon any month, work in the afternoon the next, and those who work in the afternoon any month, work in the morning the next. This rotation is so generally understood by the pupils that upon the first day of each month the change to occur has only to be announced, without explanation, and all go to their appropriate departments without confusion. The impediments to successful shops in asylums,as they become large, are these: During school hours, from nine to four o'clock, or from eight to one, as the case may be, the shops are, as the department is usually organized, necessarially empty, and the masters unemployed, unless they busy themselves in preparing work, as the saying is. Again, all necessarilly go to the shops together, before or after school, or at both times, and, supposing three trades to be taught, as is the case with us, the boys, when two hundred in number, the number we actually have, would average over sixty to a shop. No master can give suitable attention to sixty apprentices at one time, however dilligently he may prepare for it, or be sure that they are all of them even at work. A shop, if possible, should have its operations prolonged through an ordinary working day, and, in a large institution at least, should secure its complement of pupils in successive sets through the day. The wisdom of this method has been confirmed by eight years of experience. The health of the Institution since its establishment has been a matter of congratulation. During forty-eight years there have been but twenty-eight deaths. The average duration of schooling has been four years and a half, and the whole number of pupils received has been 1,525. Two of the twenty-eight died by drowning, and one by railroad accident. By reason of cholera in the city in 1833, and again in 1849, the school was dismissed for a short time before the close of the session. In 1867, also the prevalence of typhoid fever occasioned the closing of school in March. During the past four years, with a daily attendance of four hundred, but two deaths have occurred. The affairs of the Institution have been under the immediate care of five gentlemen successively. Mr. H. N. Hubbell, by his untiring energy, faithfulness and skill, bestowed for twenty-four years, brought it from small and feeble beginnings to a position of decided importance, and one holding a warm place in the affections of the people of the State. Few persons, as they look at an Institution of this character in its mature and perfected organization, and in the full exercise of its beneficent career, are able to appreciate the difficulties that have been encountered in its early history. The creation of public sympathy in an untried and difficult enterprise, securing public confidence, maturing plans, erecting buildings, collecting, organizing and controlling an Institution of this kind, involves an amount of care and perplexity, and demands a fertility of resources that attend few other labors undertaken by man. No greater satisfaction can be conferred upon a benevolent mind than to have been made the agent of effecting such a work. Mr. J. Addison Cary, his successor, succumbed to an acute and painful disease, and died in less than a year. His eminent talents and genial qualities made his death to be deeply regretted. Rev. Collins Stone was in charge for eleven years, 1852-63. He brought to his work full acquaintance with the characteristics of deaf mutes, and superior skill in the art of their education. His knowledge of human nature was thorough, and his experience in affairs extensive. Cautious, yet bold, fertile in resources and prompt in execution, -waved at all times by a conscientious regard for the duties of his position and by sympathy for mutes in their misfortune, social in his temperament, of polished manners, and the soul of honor, he united in a remarkable degree thequalities desirable in his office. Mr. George L. Weed, in charge three years. 1863-6, was occupied, in addition to the numerous cares incident to the control of a household of nearly two hundred persons, in the labors and influences preliminary to the enlargement undertaken in 1868. and made complete in 1868. His successor, and the present incumbent, was Mr. Gilbert 0. Fay, who for ten years has had the task of developing and determining the routine life of a household at present numbering nearly five hundred persons, in quarters entirely new. The Ohio Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, the fifth in the country in the order of time, is yet. in another particular, the first. It was the first established upon the important and only true principle, that the entire expense of furnishing a complete education to the deaf and dumb should be defrayed by the State. Other States have liberally and nobly made appropriations to support their deaf mutes in private incorporations, granting a yearly stipend for this purpose - in some cases sufficient, in others not so. Ohio claims the honor of first providing adequate and gratuitous instruction for the deaf and dumb as a matter of plain and acknowledged duty. The nobleness of this act is not diminished by the consideration that, at the time of assuming this duty, the State had been in existence only twenty-five years . that three-quarters of its surface was covered with the primitive forest: that the great thoroughfares of commerce were not constructed, nor its system of common schools in operation: and that, while the taxes of the State were burdensome, its revenues were comparatively small. From a work commenced under such circumstances, the State, in her subsequent progress to wealth and greatness, has shown no disposition to retreat. The material for this sketch, so far as it applies to the first twenty-seven years of the history of the Institution, as well as the language in which it is described, have been largely derived from a sketch drawn up twenty-two years ago by Rev. Collins Stone, at that time Superintendent of the Institution. This revisal and the filling out of the sketch as it stands have been done bvthe present Superintendent. PRESENT OFFICERS OF THE INSTITUTION - 1876. TRUSTEES. Henry F. Booth. Ansel T. Walling, Philemon Hess. Superintendent - Gilbert O. Fay. THE SCHOOL INSTRUCTORS Academic Department - Charies S. Perry. M. A.. Alfred H. Hubbell, M. A. Grammar Deportment - John D. H. Stewart. Louisa K. Thompson, M. Abbie Hyde, Sarah Noyes, Robert Patterson. B. A. Primary Department - Plumb M. Park. Matthew G. Raftington. Cassie H. Smith. Mary C. Bierce, Geo. W. Halse, Hannah Davis. Gertie Woofter, Ruth E. Hare, Adaline T. Evans. Kate Millikan, Sarah F. Perry. M. Annie Byers, Lucy E. Brown. James M. Park. B. A.. Augustus B. Greener. Teacher of Articulation - Ida W. Kessler. DOMESTIC DEPARTMENT Van S. Seltzer. M. D., Physician: Frederic F. Wing. Steward: Charlotte A. Babbitt, Matron: Mary Syler, Assistant Matron: Helen A. Rose. Assistant Matron: Mary A. Kidder. Housekeeper. DEPARTMENT OF TRADES Parley P. Pratt. Master of Shoe Shop; Charles B. Flood, Supervisor of Public Printing; Mitchell C. Lilley, Master of Book Bindery: Thomas Flood. Master of Printing Office. ===============================================================================