Visual Record of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind
Erika Piola, Co-Director, VCP at LCP
Associate Curator, Prints and Photographs
![Picture shows a four-story rectangular building with many rectangular windows. The building includes two front entrances with porticos. The structure is white, and its front is lit by sunlight. Pedestrians – eight total with six men, two women and one boy – walk on the sidewalk in front of and across from the building. Small trees evenly line the sidewalk in front and to the left of the building. A dark-colored watchman’s guardhouse, shaped like a chimney, stands across the street from the building. A man with a cane, and a boy, holding his hand, walk past the guardhouse. The boy appears to be gesturing in the direction of the guardhouse and the building. Text printed below the images reads: “Lith. Of J. T. Bowen, Phila. Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. Published by J.T. Bowen at his Lithographic & Print Colouring Establishment, 94, Walnut St Philada. Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1840 by J. T. Bowen in the Clerk’s Office of the Dt. Ct. for the En. Dt. of Pa.[End of description]](https://commontouch.librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Pennsylvania-Institution-for-the-Instruction-of-the-Blind.-Philadelphia-w277-1030x921.jpg "J. C. Wild, Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. Philadelphia: J. T. Bowen, 1840. Hand-colored print. 6.5 x 7.25 in.")
When the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind opened in 1833, it was one of the earliest educational institutes for the visually impaired established in the United States. The school taught courses in the humanities, math and sciences, and music, as well provided instruction in handicraft employments. Still in existence today as the Overbrook School for the Blind, the school inhabited two primary buildings over its long history. The first located at Race and Twentieth Streets in Center City and the second (and current) at 6333 Malvern Street in West Philadelphia. In addition to raised-printed materials produced by and for the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, the Library Company holds views documenting the buildings of the educational institution from its first years of existence through the 20th century. The images were issued in a variety of mediums and contexts, but all indicate the importance of the school as a prominent landmark in the city of Philadelphia.
J. C. Wild, Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. Philadelphia: J. T. Bowen, 1840. Hand-colored print. 6.5 x 7.25 in.
Issued as plate 12 in the series Views of Philadelphia, and Its Vicinity, this print depicts the school at the northwest corner of Race and Twentieth Streets. The Institution first occupied this building in October 1836 after years of fundraising for a permanent, larger school building to accommodate their increasing number of students. Julius Friedlander (1802-1839), founder of the school served as principal during this time. With printer Jacob Snider, Friedlander perfected the raised type (all capital Roman letters known as Philadelphia-line) printed by the school for their texts before his untimely death in 1839.
![Picture shows two flower-shaped prints of “eight petals” illustrated with vignettes of buildings, landscape views, and portraits arranged in a circle of images nested within an outer circle of images. Very tiny rectangular and triangular shaped cut-outs line the open folds of the print. The jagged-edged prints are accompanied by an envelope printed in cursive letters in red ink reading: “Rose of Philadelphia.” The print in the left also contains two images of a pink rose bud with green petals as “petals” on its upper edge. [End of description]](https://commontouch.librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/rose-of-phila-1030x658.jpg "Schaefer & Korudi, Rose of Philadelphia. New York: Published by G. Heerbrandt, 1859. Black and white and color die-cut print. 9 x 9 in.")
Schaefer & Korudi, Rose of Philadelphia. New York: Published by G. Heerbrandt, 1859. Black and white and color die-cut print. 9 x 9 in.
![Picture shows a close-up of a vignette image at the top of one of the jagged- edged “petals” of one of the prints. Vignette depicts the four-story rectangular shaped building with several rectangular windows of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. A tree flanks each side of the building. A smaller building with several rectangular windows stands behind the larger building to the viewer’s right. The side of another smaller building stands next to the larger building to the viewer’s left. Three pedestrians – a man and a couple composed of a man and a woman – walk on the sidewalk in front of the building. Text printed below the image reads: “Institution of the Blind.” [end of description]](https://commontouch.librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/rose-of-phila-crop-II.jpg "Schaefer & Korudi, Rose of Philadelphia. New York: Published by G. Heerbrandt, 1859. Detail.")
Schaefer & Korudi, Rose of Philadelphia. New York: Published by G. Heerbrandt, 1859. Detail.
Illustrated die-cut prints shaped like roses were a popular souvenir novelty in the mid-19th century. The subject matter of the illustrations depicted often focused on prominent city landmarks of cultural and historical significance. This rose includes a vignette view of the “Institution of the Blind” when in operation for over twenty-five years. A few years earlier, in 1851, the school was enlarged with the erection of two wings, an elevation of another story, and additions, including to the workshop. Nearly 150 students, its highest enrollment since opening, were educated at the Institution during this period
![Picture shows two almost identical photographs on a cardboard mount. Photographs show the exterior of the multi-story, half block long brick building of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. Building contains many rectangular-shaped windows. A tall picket fence lines the property. Three men and two women stand on the sidewalk evenly lined with trees in front of the fence. The men stand a few feet apart from each other and the women stand next to each other a few feet to the right of the men. The men wear dark-colored hats and suits. The women are attired in dark-colored hats and one is in a light-colored, long-sleeved dress with crinoline skirt, and the other in a dark-colored, long-sleeved dress with crinoline skirt. [End of description]](https://commontouch.librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Asylum-for-the-Blind-Philadelphia-p-9145-5-1030x505.jpg "J. W. Hurn, Asylum for the Blind, ca. 1869. Black and white stereograph, 3.25 x 6.75 in.")
J. W. Hurn, Asylum for the Blind, ca. 1869. Black and white stereograph, 3.25 x 6.75 in.
A form of parlor entertainment and an extremely popular medium of mass produced photography, stereographs created a three-dimensional image when viewed with a stereoviewer. Most every middle-class class home owned stereographs and a viewer by the later 19th century. This stereograph from about 1869 shows the school at the end of a decade in which another story was added to the main section of the building as well a two-storied extension to the workshops. The era also saw an increase in the types of handicrafts offered as part of the Institution’s curriculum. The students’ wares were sold through a store operated by the Institution since the early 1840s.
![Picture shows an elongated white multi-story building with a central tower and columns. Building contains red pitched roofs and several rectangular and curved-edged windows. Trees evenly line the property in front of the building. A fence made of white stone wall on the left, an open gate in the center, and metal pickets on the right also lines the property in front of the trees. Clouds hang in the sky above the building. A grass lawn and bushes with pink flowers are visible across the street from the school and in the foreground. Red text printed in the upper right corner reads: “Philadelphia, Pa. Penna. Institution for the Blind.” [End of description].](https://commontouch.librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Pennsylvania-Institution-for-the-Blind-postcard-138-a06-a-1030x662.jpg "Pennsylvania Institution for the Philadelphia, Pa. Penna. Institution for the Blind, ca. 1905. Color postcard. 3.5 x 5.5 in. Gift of George D. Brightbill.")
Philadelphia, Pa. Penna. Institution for the Blind, ca. 1905. Color postcard. 3.5 x 5.5 in. Gift of George D. Brightbill.
Postcards were at the height of their popularity in the early 20th century when this card showing the Institution was issued. A collectible and a means to quickly communicate with friends and family, postcards from this time often depicted city views. This one shows the school following its relocation from Twentieth and Race Streets to West Philadelphia between 1899 and 1901. Built after the designs of Philadelphia firm Cope & Stewardson, the new buildings, including quadrangles, were more conducive to the school’s new curriculum that included physical education and home economics. In 1946 the Pennsylvania Institution was formally re-named Overbrook School for the Blind.
Sources:
Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, Annual Reports, 1833-1865
Overbrook School for the Blind, Centennial Anniversary of the Building, 1999 http://www.obs.org/page.php?ITEM=107, accessed February 18, 2015
![Picture shows an open volume of an 1838 edition of “The Students' Magazine: Published Monthly, at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind.” The text is printed in raised-letter line type. The volume is open to an oblique view of a title page. Letters are in capitals and the text is not easily legible given the angle of the view. Part of the header is legible and reads: "STUDENTS’ MAG." Part of the opposite page with embossed type is visible. [End of description]](https://commontouch.librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/lpers127-v1-2322-q-1853-01-11-p1-3-80x80.jpg)