Visual Culture and Disability: The Continuing Influence of Common Touch

Queen & Co. Standard Eye Colors (Philadelphia: Queen & Co., 1891). Chromolithograph.

 The recent Visual Culture Program (VCP at LCP) exhibition Common Touch: The Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind explored the history of the education of the blind during the 19th century. A multi-sensory installation comprised primarily of contemporary artworks and Library Company raised- print texts, Common Touch also included a portrait photograph of Frederick N. Jacobson and his wife.

Levi T. Rice, F. N. and S. A. Jacobson, May 3d, 1890 (Auburn, Indiana: Rice, 1890).
 Albumen print on cabinet card mount.

Jacobson, a blind preacher, and his wife Susanna served as a visual and thematic focal point in the exhibition. He was a blind man who defied Victorian stereotypes of the visually impaired.  He was educated, had a career, and was  married. A recent acquisition, the 1890 cabinet card photograph showing Jacobson reading a Bible with his fingers became a part of our holdings a few months before the exhibition opened.   

As often happens in our exhibitions, Library Company materials on display embody long-realized collecting strengths or ones we have begun to foster. Our Michael Zinman Collection of Printing for the Blind has been at the core of our holdings related to disability studies for some years now, as well as represents a corollary to the mission of the Visual Culture Program — to challenge our conceptions of sight.

This interrelationship between visual culture and disability has affected recent acquisitions pursued by VCP, which seeks to bolster our graphic holdings that document the visual history of disability in America. Consequently, we have added materials to the collection that portray disability through a wide range of contexts, including this 1891 color advertisement for artificial eyes designed by Philadelphia opticians Queen & Co. Striking and surreal, the rows of brown and blue specimens showcased the artistry of the makers of the false eyes in addition to that of the lithographer of the print. The fine details used to render the irises and blood vessels indicate the care required to craft the prosthetics and their graphic depictions.

The Invalid Appliance Co. (Chicago, ca. 1898). 

Color relief print.

The circa 1898 illustrated letterhead of The Invalid Appliance Co., “manufacturers of modern mechanical appliances for the alleviation of the suffering” in Chicago also found a home at the Library Company. Adorned with vignettes of a number of the company’s designs, including “Reclining Chairs,” “Columbia Rolling Chairs,” and “Self-Propelling Chairs,” the piece of commercial ephemera sheds light on the evolution and ingenuity of mechanics in the lives of people with disabilities at all ages and stages of life.

[Man lying on a mechanical invalid bed]

(United States, ca. 1870). 

Albumen on stereograph mount.

Similarly, a recently obtained circa 1870 stereograph (able to be viewed three-dimensionally) of a man lying in a mechanical “invalid” bed chronicles the daily existence of the physically disabled during the Victorian era. Books and a basket of fruit rest by his bed, and within his reach. The provenance of the image is unknown. Was it meant to show the utility of the bed? Was it to raise funds for a Civil-War veteran injured during the war? Or was it a portrait photographed at the instigation of the sitter?

Unwavering to its mission, VCP will continue to strive to facilitate the research of these graphic materials that are rich in multiple ways to study the history of people with disabilities and visual culture.  

Erika Piola

Associate Curator of Prints and Photographs

Co-Director VCP at LCP    

Register Now: New Library Company Programs

The Library Company is pleased to announce new offerings for 2017. This year we will introduce two new programs:  Book Club and Collection Reviews and Tours.  We are excited to create new opportunities for all of the Library Company’s supporters.

2017 Book Club

The Library Company will host three book reviews or seminars based on our current exhibitions and strengths within our collections.  Our first Book Club will be held on February 22nd and will be facilitated by Together We Win curators, Linda August and Sarah Weatherwax.  They will lead a discussion and exploration of the book Regeneration by Pat Barker, a work of historical fiction exploring the psychological effects of World War I and medical and mental health treatments during the era. Members and guests are invited to bring their lunch and enjoy a stimulating conversation about this important topic.  Please click here to register for our first Library Company Book Club.

Future sessions will feature Simon Garfield’s book On the Map and Thom Nickels’ book Literary Philadelphia (with a conversation led by the author himself). Please check our events page for dates and times.

Collection Reviews and Tours

We’d love to give you a closer look at the Library Company! Starting in March we will offer a series of one-hour member tours throughout the year. Guests are welcome to attend for a nominal fee. So, register and bring a friend!  Each tour will include a curator-led tour of the current exhibition and showcase a different aspect of Library Company collections.  Some collection review highlights include Spiritualism, Presidential Collections, Medical History, and Women’s History. More information to come on this wonderful opportunity!

We look forward to seeing you at the Library Company.  For questions about these and additional programs please contact our Events and Programs Coordinator Clarissa Lowry at clowry@librarycompany.org or 215-546-3181 x 130. Attendance is free for Library Company members and a fee of $10 for non-members. 

Rallying for Women’s History in December

In accordance with tradition, the Junto met in mid-December to hear from one of the Library Company’s long-time shareholders and members in support of the Program for Women’s History.This year’s speaker was Lisa Unger Baskin, whose extraordinary collection on the history of women from the 1500s through the 1800s went to the Duke University Libraries in 2015. In her talk “Collecting against the Highspots,” she showed how building a knowledge base and having a personal vision are of paramount importance for a collector. Over many years, Lisa Baskin acquired lesser-known works by female scholars, printers, publishers, laborers, scientists, authors, artists, and political activists, and then brought their significance to light.

For example, on one occasion Lisa Baskin found a pamphlet about an 1834 murder trial. One of the people testifying was a woman named Isabella. Thanks to knowing that Isabella was the early name of the preacher Sojourner Truth, Lisa Baskin “scooped” the pamphlet. On another occasion, thanks to knowing that the inscriber “M. M.” was May Morris, the daughter of one of the key figures in the English Arts and Crafts Movement, she acquired an extraordinary copy of one of William Morris’s Kelmscott Press books.

It was truly inspiring to hear about Lisa Baskin’s zeal and commitment to women’s history. Forty-five people were in attendance, including Penn State professor Lori Ginzberg, who will be leading the NEH Summer Seminar on women’s history here at the Library Company next July.

In 2016, the Library Company raised $11,050 from fifty-three donors who contributed to our Annual Junto Campaign, a special annual appeal that supports new acquisitions. These proceeds will allow the Program in Women’s History to continue our own efforts of “recovering” women’s history here at the Library Company.

Cornelia King 

Chief of Reference and Curator of Women's History