The North Carolina Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, i845-i893- E. McK. GOODWIN, Advisory Superintendent of the North Carolina School. NORTH CAROLINA INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB AND THE BLIND. In 1843 the question of establishing a school for educating the deaf and dumb was agitated. Mr. W. D. Cooke, of Virginia, came to the State the same year and went into several counties giving exhibitions of the manner of teaching the deaf and dumb. Governor Morehead urged the establishment by the State of such an institution. On January 12, 1845, a bill entitled “ An act to provide for the education and maintenance of poor and indigent deaf-mutes and blind persons in the State ” was passed. The sum of $5,000 annually was appropriated. The act placed this fund under the supervision of the “ president and directors of the library board.” The board was composed of His Excellency Governor Graham, ex officio, president of the board, and Weston R. Gales, David Stone, Charles Manly, and R. S. Myers. The board secured a building on Hillsboro street, and the school was organized by the appointment of Wm. D. Cooke, A. M., principal. On the first day of May, 1845, the school opened with seven pupils, and during the session seventeen entered. NORTH CAROLINA INSTITUTION FOB THE DEAF AND DUMB AND THE BLIND. At the session of the general assembly of North Carolina in 1847 an act was passed to provide for the erection of a suit- able building for the comfortable accommodations of deaf- mutes and blind persons in the State. The act appropriated only $5,000, but provided that the surplus out of the annual appropriations, amounting to ten thousand ($10,000), be placed in the hands of the board. 4 The North Carolina Institution. On the 14th day of April, 1849, the corner-stone of the main building, on Coswell square, was laid by the Grand Lodge of Masons, under the direction of William F. Collins, M. W. G. M., after which an address was made by Rev. Samuel S. Bryan, of New Berne, N. C. In 1851 Mr. John Kelly, of Orange county, N. C., be- queathed the sum of six thousand dollars to aid in the educa- tion of indigent deaf-mutes. The will provided that only the interest accruing on this fund should be used. Mr. Cooke continued principal till 1860, at which time he was succeeded by W. J. Palmer, who remained till 1869, when he went to Belleville, Canada, to assume the superintendency of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. The school was kept open during the entire time of the Civil War, although the means for maintenance were very limited. ♦ Mr. John Nichols, who had no professional experience with the educa- tion of the deaf, succeeded Mr. Palmer as principal. In 1871 Mr. Nichols was succeeded by Mr. S. F. Tomlinson. He had no knowledge or experience in such work. But Mr. Tomlin- son remained only about two years, being succeeded in 1873 by Mr. Nichols, whom he had so recently succeeded. These changes were made on political grounds. About this time the Governor appointed a board, among whom was one negro who could not sign his own name. "Under such management were our unfortunate children placed for their physical, mental, moral, and spiritual instruction. It will be remembered that formerly our Institution owned and operated a well-equipped printing-office and bookbindery. At one time the Institution did the printing for the State printer. The American Annals for the Deaf was printed in this office, and the Institution published a paper, “ The Deaf - Mute Casket.” The office had costly appliances for printing raised type, and printed several works for the blind. But during the administration of politicians the printing appliances were sold and the building torn down. A costly press was sold to a foundry as “ old iron.” The same press was after- wards purchased from the foundry and is now in use in one of the leading printing houses of the city. It appears that the board thought it unjust for the deaf to compete against the printing houses and thereby take some of the public patronage of the State printer. In 1877 Mr. H. A. Gudger was elected principal, he having The North Carolina Institution. 5 had no professional experience in the education of the deaf. But he devoted his energy and attention to the work and be- came conversant with the sign-language and methods of instruction. It was during Mr. Gudger’s administration that the articulation department was introduced. Notwithstanding all these changes that the Institution underwent and the inex- perience of the chief officers, it continued to grow in numbers. Mr. Gudger remained as superintendent till January, 1883, when he resigned and was succeeded by Mr. W. J. Young, who had been principal teacher in the blind department for more than twenty years. When Mr. Gudger resigned there were 193 pupils on his roll, and the number has steadily in- creased, till now our last report shows 299. W. J. YOUNG, M. A. The North Carolina Institution has furnished to the profes- sion some prominent teachers who have been honored in other States. Mr. W. J. Palmer was called to the responsible posi- tion of principal of the Ontario Institution at Belleville, Can- ada, and Mr. Coleman also went to the same Institution as teacher, where he still remains in the profession. Mr. Grow, the Maryland school, first “ taught the young idea how to 6 The North Carolina Institution. shootin North Carolina. Mr. D. C. Dudley spent his youth and young manhood in the North Carolina Institution, from whence he went to the Kentucky Institution, and afterward filled so acceptably the superintendency of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. Mr. Hill, superintendent of the West Virginia Institution, gained his first experience in North Carolina. Mr. John E. Ray, the efficient and progres- sive superintendent of the Colorado Institution, spent ten years teaching the deaf in his native State. It might not be out of place for North Carolina also to claim Mr. J. A. Tillinghast, now in the Colorado Institution. The colored department has furnished teachers to the South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas Institutions. In 1868 the general assembly made provisions for the edu- cation of the colored deaf and dumb and blind children of the State. North Carolina was the first State to provide an insti- tution for the colored race. The colored department opened on the 4th of January, 1869, with 26 pupils. Mr. John J. Turner was in charge of this department for one session, when Mr. Z. W. Haynes was elected. He taught in this department for twenty years, and was removed to the white department in 1890. The Institution for the Colored is a commodious, well ar- ranged building, more suitable for its purpose than the build- ings for the white department. The colored department is under the same general management as the white department, and enjoys the same care and privileges. This department has been under the immediate charge of W. F. Debnam since 1874. Board of Trustees, January 1, 1893. Major R. S. Tucker, President. Mr. James A. Briggs, Mr. B. F. Montague, Mr. J. Rufein Williams, Capt. C. D. Heartt, Col. L. D. Stephenson. Mr. B. F. Park, Officers and Teachers. Mr. W. J. Young, .'.... Superintendent. Mr. J. G. B. Grimes, Steward. Mrs. C. M. Costner, Housekeeper. Miss Etta Sykes, .... Matron for the Deaf. Mrs. Lottie Harrison, . . . . For the Blind. The North Carolina Institution. 7 Teachers for the Deaf. Mr. David R. Tillinghast, . From 1868 to the present. Mr. Thos. H. Tillinghast, . “ 1874 “ “ Mrs. Laura A. Winston, . . “ 1889 “ “■ Mr. Z. W. Haynes, in White Dept., “ 1890 “ “ Mr. E. McK. Goodwin, . . “ 1888 “ “ Miss Eefie Johnston, . . 1892 “ “ Mr. John C. Miller, . . “ 1890 “ “ Mr. W. F. Debnam, . In charge of Colored Dept, since 1874. Mr. I. C. Blair, Miss Laura Cosby, Miss Maggie Brumley, Miss Fannie Floyd, Miss Mary Shenck, Mrs. John A. Simpson. Mr. John A. Simpson, .... Musical Director. Mr. Jonas M. Costner, . . . Colored Department. Mr. Walter R. Reaves, ... “ “ Teachers in the Blind Department. Industrial Department. Mr. Jas. P. Wedden, . . . Foreman Shoe Shop. Mr. James Anderson, . Foreman Broom and Mattress Shop. An act of the general assembly of North Carolina creating* and establishing the new North Carolina School for the Deaf and Dumb Avas passed and ratified March 7, 1891. The School is located at Morganton, in Burke County. This location is just east of the Blue Ridge, and is surrounded on three sides by the mountains, and commands good views of South Mountains, Table Rock, and Grandfather Mountains. The first brick in the building was laid by tAvo deaf children, Maggie LeGrand and Robert Miller, May 16, 1892. The building, designed by A. G. Bauer, architect, is a brick structure, three stories high (above basement), and is two hundred and fifty-six feet long, contains one hundred and fifty rooms, and will accommodate three hundred children. The building is modelled after the “ Advanced ” building of the Pennsylvania Institution. It will be furnished Avith modern appliances and equipments. The Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind at Raleigh has had very limited facilities for educating the deaf, caring for less than one hundred white mutes, Avith perhaps four hundred growing up in ignorance in the State. 8 The North Carolina Institution. In addition to the regular school course, there will be taught several industrial trades and arts—printing, tailoring, car- pentry, free-hand and industrial drawing, shoemaking, broom and mattress making, and practical farming, gardening, and dairying. The School owns and will operate a farm of two hundred and thirteen acres. A very large per centum of our children are the sons and daughters of farmers, and our facili- NOBIH CAROLINA SCHOOL FOB THE DEAF AND DUMB, MORGANTON, N. O, ties to train the boys in the practical part of agriculture will be very good, and we can thus prepare them for their life-work. The following gentlemen were appointed a board of di- rectors : Hon. M. L. Reed, Baltimore. Hon. R. A. Gbieb, Charlotte. Hon. J. J. Long, ....... Eoka. Hon. B. F. Aycock, . . . . . . Fremont. Col. S. McD. Tate, Morganton. Prof. M. H. Holt, Oak Ridge. Mr. N. B. Beoughton, Raleigh. The North Carolina Institution. 9 The board of directors met in Morganton and organized April 22, 1891. At this meeting E. McK. Goodwin, of the Institution for the Deaf and the Blind at Raleigh, was elected advisory superintendent, and Mr. Jno. A. Dickson was elected secretary and treasurer. Mr. Dickson resigned, and at a subsequent meeting Capt. Geo. L. Phifer was elected to fill E. MCE. GOODWIN. the vacancy. Col. S. McD. Tate having been appointed State treasurer, Dr. P. L. Murphy was appointed a director. At the recent session of the general assembly a stringent law was passed requiring professional experience in the train- ing and management of deaf-mutes for eligibility to the su- perintendency of the School. It is hoped that the building will be completed by the first of November, 1893.