More posts from the SDDS blog…

Time for more posts from the SDDS blog, presented here with a bit of commentary

Mr Bird, I hope you are well this morning – This presents what is, I think, probably my favourite piece of real life documentary evidence that we have from the Association in Aid of the Deaf and Dumb. It’s something that I found in the secretary’s correspondence from 1855 which gives you a real ‘being-there’ feeling about the way that interactions between Deaf and hearing people in the Association communicated.

Oh Census Transcriber, you only had one job –  Somewhat facetious, I know, but I couldn’t help the title of this… it’s based on those ‘You only had one job’ sites that showcase ridiculous mistakes. I can’t help but wonder what you might be able to do with an ‘Artillery in Aid of the Deaf and Dumb’ though.

Historical evidence, and the spaghetti kiss – Ever come upon evidence that confirms something unrelated, and completely unexpected? I love those moments in historical research. It’s important to say that some of the facts about Watson’s relationship with the Braidwoods in this post have been challenged by someone very knowledgeable on the history of the London Deaf community… which also raises an interesting question of how much other Deaf history we think we know is right, but actually needs to be re-written.

A new Blog on Mark 7 – This is notice of a new blog run by a colleague on the SDDS project which looks at what the modern academic study of the history of the reception of biblical texts, can tell us about evidence that we are digging up on the use of Mark 7 (the story of Jesus healing the deaf man) in Victorian England. The blog’s already elicited a number of responses, particularly about Deaf people’s own experiences of Mark 7, or ways in which we assume it might have been applied more or less universally in the UK.

To visitors to Paris –  I love this find, a tiny glimpse into a world that I have researched in the past… when you start to look, you find that Deaf community histories are full of international connection. Here’s a small example. What I haven’t gone on to say in this post is how much the international advertisement of the ‘Société Universelle’ was actually a play by its leadership to establish it as the international body representative of the French Deaf community… but if you want to read more about that, you can look in my PhD (chapter 6) 😉

Enjoy!