A Brief Photo History of Kentucky Education

The Kentucky School for the Deaf, the oldest institution of its kind west of the Alleghenies, celebrated its 185th anniversry in 2008. While John A. Jacob was not the school's first principal, he was certainly the first to make a profound and lasting impct. On his appointment in June 1824, Jacobs spent the next 18 months preparing for his new responsibilities in Connecticut, working side-by-side with Laurent Clerc and Thomas Galludet. In other words, a living tradition connected Danville to Hartford and the development of American Sign Language, a tradition rooted in the pioneering achievements of 18th century France. During the 1890s, the culture and community of the deaf, which sign language and residential schools like Danville helped to create, was challenged by the so-called "oralists," people like Alexander Graham Bell who insisted on the exclusive use of lip-reading and speech. Changes in the Kentucky School's newspaper reflected the shift in emphasis. For decades The Kentucky Deaf Mute had carried the motto "Speak, Hands, for Me." In the '90's, however, The Deaf Mute became The Kentucky Standard, with a new Latin motto: "Esse Quam Videri" -- "To be, rather than seem to be."

On the history of the manualist/oralist controversy and its aftermath, see Douglas C. Baynton, Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign Against Sign Language (University of Chicago Pres 1996), and Oliver Sacks, Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf (University of California Press, 1989).

On the bicycle as an icon of health in the Gilded Age, see Harvey Green, Fit for America: Health, Fitness and Sport in American Society (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).



The Bicycle Club on the steps of Jacobs Hall. Kentucky School for the Deaf. No date. Courtesy of The Kentucky School for the Deaf, Danville.
The Kentucky School for the Deaf, the oldest institution of its kind west of the Alleghenies, celebrated its 185th anniversry in 2008. While John A. Jacob was not the school's first principal, he was certainly the first to make a profound and lasting impct. On his appointment in June 1824, Jacobs spent the next 18 months preparing for his new responsibilities in Connecticut, working side-by-side with Laurent Clerc and Thomas Galludet. In other words, a living tradition connected Danville to Hartford and the development of American Sign Language, a tradition rooted in the pioneering achievements of 18th century France. During the 1890s, the culture and community of the deaf, which sign language and residential schools like Danville helped to create, was challenged by the so-called "oralists," people like Alexander Graham Bell who insisted on the exclusive use of lip-reading and speech. Changes in the Kentucky School's newspaper reflected the shift in emphasis. For decades The Kentucky Deaf Mute had carried the motto "Speak, Hands, for Me." In the '90's, however, The Deaf Mute became The Kentucky Standard, with a new Latin motto: "Esse Quam Videri" -- "To be, rather than seem to be." On the history of the manualist/oralist controversy and its aftermath, see Douglas C. Baynton, Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign Against Sign Language (University of Chicago Pres 1996), and Oliver Sacks, Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf (University of California Press, 1989). On the bicycle as an icon of health in the Gilded Age, see Harvey Green, Fit for America: Health, Fitness and Sport in American Society (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).

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