MSS 32

Flood, James Theodore,1905-1990

Papers of James Theodore Flood, 1920-1989

 

 

Gallaudet University Archives.

 

 

Descriptive Summary

Repository: Gallaudet University Archives
Call No.: MSS 32
 Creator:
Title: Papers of James Theodore Flood, 1920-1989
 Quantity: 3.5 Linear Feet (7 document boxes)
Abstract:
Note: This document last updated 2005 December 6.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information:. The James Theodore Flood Papers were given to the Gallaudet University Archives in his bequest in accordance to item II in the Last Will and Testament of Dr. James Theodore Flood on December 16, 1991.

Processed by: Michael Olson. 1994 August.
Processing Note:
Conditions on Use and Access: This collection is open to the public with no restrictions. Photocopies may be made for scholarly research.

 

 

Related Material in the Archives:


Manuscripts

·         Papers of Herbert C. Merrill, 1897-1957. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: MSS 113.

·         Collection of The Church Mission to Deaf-Mutes, 1921-1988. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: MSS 120.

·         Collection / Benjamin M. Schowe, Sr., 1912-1977. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: MSS 43.

 

Photographs

·         James T. Flood [picture]. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Portraits.

·         Photograph album of James Theodore Flood [picture]. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Photograph Album AL 80.

·         Photograph album of James Theodore Flood [picture]. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Photograph Album AL 81.

 

Vertical Files

·         James Theodore Flood. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Deaf Biographical

 

 

Biographical Sketch

James Theodore Flood was born on February 16, 1905, the fourth of eight children of James B. and Martha (Gehl) Flood of Elyria, Ohio. He spent his childhood in Elyria, where he attended the public schools until at the age of 12 he contracted spinal meningitis and became totally deaf. He dropped out of the school and worked at the Columbia Steel Company for a few years. He enrolled in January 1920, at the Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus. He graduated as class valedictorian in June 1923. The following autumn, he enrolled in Gallaudet College. He graduated from Gallaudet in 1928 and he went back to his home state, Ohio where he worked first as a boy's counselor for two years and then as a teacher for 45 years at the Ohio School for the Deaf. He retired in 1975. He received a second bachelor's degree in education in 1932 and a master's degree in special education in 1940, both from the Ohio State University. Gallaudet University honored him with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1964.

During his teaching career, Dr. Flood worked tirelessly as a board member, executive secretary, and public relations man for the Ohio Home for the Aged and Infirm Deaf. Among his greatest achievements was the established of Columbus Colony, the nation's first planned community for elderly deaf people. For years, James Flood was the executive secretary of the Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Association.

During his lifetime, Dr. Flood attended many workshops related on aging, handicapped and deaf people. Also, he involved in Safe Driving Program for Deaf Drivers. Along with Robert M. Greenum and Frederick Moore proposed the unification of all State (and local) organization of the Deaf. At a meeting called for such purpose, the Ohio Federation of Organization of the Deaf was established. It later became the Ohio Association of the Deaf, through merger with the Ohio Deaf Motor's Association.

Dr. Flood was honored with a larger‑than‑life framed picture of him unveiling during the Reunion of the Alumni Association in 1985. The picture is presently hanging in the lobby of Columbus Colony.

In August 1943, James Flood married Kathryn Beryl Buster of Kansas City, a Gallaudet University classmate and teacher of home economics at the Ohio School for the Deaf. After Kathryn's death in 1975, Dr. Flood married Ruth Imogene Price in 1979. Ruth died In 1981.

Dr. Flood passed away at his residence in Columbus, Ohio on September 24, 1990 at the age of 85.

Sources: Collection Synopsis, James T. Flood Papers, MSS 901, The Ohio Historical Society; Vita Resume of James T. Flood; and Gallaudet Alumni Newsletter, Vol. 25, No. 3, November 1990.

 

Scope and Content

 

            The James Theodore Flood Papers consist of awards and honors, booklets, brochures, certificates, constitution and by‑laws, correspondence, financial reports, memorandums, minutes, newspaper clippings, news releases, presentations, program books, proposals, reports and speeches. Dr. Flood was a teacher at the Ohio School for the Deaf for 45 years. He was an advocate for the Ohio Deaf community. He was the instrumental in establishing a nursing home for the deaf called Columbus Colony in Columbus, Ohio.

The collection, which consists of approximately 6,000 pages, dates from 1920 to 1989. The bulk of collection consists of correspondence, carbon copies, and publications. The bulk dates are mostly between 1952 and 1982. The strength of the collection is centered mostly on concerns for the welfare of deaf people in Ohio, especially with the Ohio Home for the Aged and Infirm Deaf and the Columbus Colony.

The largest subject in the collection is focused on the establishment of the Columbus Colony, the nation's first planned community for elderly deaf people.

The collection is arranged into seven series: biographical and personal, Gallaudet College, the Ohio School for the Deaf, the Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Association, the Ohio Home for the Aged and Infirm Deaf, the Columbus Colony, and Subject and Correspondence files.

Unfortunately, the collection is not completed and mostly contains carbon copies of some materials as Dr. Flood donated the bulk of his collection to The Ohio Historical Society in August, 1985. (See the Archivist for a copy of collection synopsis on Dr. James T. Flood processed by the Ohio Historical Society). The collection was bequeathed to Gallaudet University in accordance to Item II in the Last Will and Testament of Dr. James T. Flood on December 16, 1991.

 

Series Descriptions and Folder Lists

 

Series I: Biographical and Personal

Box 1 1923‑1989

This series contains Dr. Flood's speeches and statements; biographical items; correspondence; articles; awards and certificates.

 

Series II: Gallaudet College

Box 1  1920‑1983

Dr. Flood was a student at Gallaudet College from 1923 to 1928. This series contains correspondence; information about Gallaudet College; and a certificate of the Phi Alpha Sigma Fraternity of which he was a member.


Series III: Ohio School for the Deaf

Box 1  1947‑1981

Dr. Flood attended the Ohio School for the Deaf from 1920 to 1923 and was a class valedictorian. Mostly of this series are correspondence; program books; and newspaper articles on the school.

 

Series IV: Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Association

Box 2  1948‑1987

This series contains records of the Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Association including Board of Governor's minutes, constitution and by‑laws, resolutions, financial statements, correspondence, legal papers and reunion program books.

 

Series V: Ohio Home for the Aged and Infirm Deaf

Box 2 1948‑1982

This series contains the records of the Ohio Home for the Aged and Infirm Deaf, a nursing home sponsored by the Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Association. Includes in the collection are minutes of the Board of Managers, correspondence, financial statements, reports and land transactions.

 

Series VI: Columbus Colony

Boxes 3‑5  1974‑1989

Series six contains materials directly related to the construction and operation of the Columbus Colony, a model residential and nursing complex for the deaf. Includes are articles of incorporation, Board of Trustees minutes, correspondence, funding proposals, and position descriptions. Dr. Flood's position as the Public Relations Director which he held the longest at the Colony. Also included are the Colony's newsletter, The Commentator. There are copies of grants and proposals in this collection, as well as on estates and wills.

 

Series VII: Subiect and Correspondence Files

Boxes 6‑7  1940‑1988

This series contains subject and correspondence file arranged alphabetically by folder title. Materials related to the education, medical care, and housing needs of the deaf and the elderly and includes material of national, state, and local organizations to which Dr. Flood belonged. Among these organizations are the National Association of Homes for the Aged Deaf, the National Association of the Deaf, the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf, the Ohio Association of the Deaf and the Ohio Federation of Organizations of the Deaf. Records of other committees include the Commission for New Residential Schools for the Blind and the Deaf, the Ohio Commission for the Deaf, and the White House Conference on Aging. There are correspondence with members of the Ohio legislature and the United States Congress. Correspondence regarding specific bills before the Ohio legislature on peddling, Morse Road Expressway, and the State Commission for the Deaf.

 

Box

Number

Title of Folder

Date

1

1

Awards and Honors

1964‑1983

2

1

Board of Governors ‑ Minutes, resolutions, memos

1982

3

1

Architects

1975‑1977

4

1

Correspondence ‑ Executive Secretary

1975‑1989

5

1

Memorandums

1977‑1984

6

1

Bishop, Jim

1964

7

1

Legislature (U.S.) ‑ Correspondence

1972‑1982

1

2

Biographical and personal items

1923, 1982‑1985

2

2

Constitution and By‑Laws

1975‑1987

3

2

Articles of Incorporation

1975‑1981

4

2

Correspondence ‑ Project Coordinator

1976‑1977

5

2

Memorandum ‑ Model Project

1980

6

2

Brochures

1977‑1981

7

2

Miscellaneous

1952‑1978

1

3

Booklets

1940‑1958

2

3

Correspondence ‑ Executive Secretary

1955‑1972

3

3

Battelle Memorial Institute Foundation

1977‑1981

4

3

Correspondence ‑ Public Relations Director

1976‑1982

5

3

Minutes

1977‑1982

6

3

Brona Funding, Inc.

1976

7

3

Miscellaneous

1974‑1982

1

4

Certificates

1939‑1989

2

4

Correspondence ‑ General

1948‑1951

3

4

Brochures

n.d.

4

4

Correspondence ‑ Public Relations Director

1976‑1982

5

4

Nader, G. Michael ‑ "Columbus Colony ‑ A National Prototype Community"

n.d.

6

4

Carlos, Elizabeth

1981

7

4

Miscellaneous

1974‑1982

1

5

Correspondence

1928‑1988

2

5

Deaf School Park ‑ History

1985

3

5

Budgets

1978‑1982

4

5

Dedication

1979‑1980

5

5

News releases

n.d.

6

5

Celeste, Hon. Richard M.

1972

7

5

National Association of Homes for the Aged Deaf

1973‑1979

1

6

Diploma ‑ The Ohio State University

1940

2

6

Financial statement

1968

3

6

Case Statements

n.d.

4

6

Donations

1981‑1982

5

6

Newspaper articles

1976‑1982

6

6

Commission for New Residential Schools for the Blind and the Deaf, Part 1

1940‑1955

7

6

National Association of the Deaf

1952‑1976

1

7

Newspaper articles

1964‑1985

2

7

Law Committee

1958‑1965

3

7

Code of Regulations

1981

4

7

Endorsements

1976‑1977

5

7

"Overvue: Deafness and Columbus Colony"

n.d.

6

7

Commission for New Residential Schools for the Blind and the Deaf, Part 2

1940‑1955

7

7

National Fraternal Society of the Deaf

n.d.

1

8

Speeches and statements

1967‑1979

2

8

Legal papers

1967‑1977

3

8

Columbus Colony

1978

4

8

Estates & Wills

1983‑1988

5

8

Paul Werth Associates, Inc.

1977‑1980

6

8

Commission on Education of the Deaf

1987

7

8

National Theatre of the Deaf

1969‑1970

1

9

Certificate ‑ Phi Alpha Sigma Fraternity

1925

2

9

Program book ‑ Reunions

1975‑1978

3

9

Columbus Colony

1978

4

9

Fact Sheet

1976

5

9

Periodicals

1977‑1981

6

9

Community Services for Deaf People

1972‑1982

7

9

Newspaper articles ‑ General

1950‑1988

1

10

Chapel Hall

n.d.

2

10

Board of Managers ‑ Minutes

1948

3

10

Columbus Colony: Brief History

n.d.

4

10

Financial statements

1977‑1982

5

10

Philosophy of Columbus Colony

1978

6

10

Correspondence ‑ General

1961‑1974

7

10

Norwood, Malcolm J. ‑ "Total Opportunity"

n.d.

1

11

Correspondence ‑ Alumni Association

1945‑1947

2

11

Board of Managers ‑ Minutes (Executive Comm.)

1970‑1975

3

11

"Columbus Colony‑How it Happened, What it is"

1980

4

11

Fletcher, Louise

1976

5

11

Position descriptions

1978‑1982

6

11

Correspondence ‑ Williams, Boyce R.

1988

7

11

Notes

n.d.

1

12

Correspondence ‑ Elstad, Dr. Leonard M.

1963‑1964

2

12

Booklets

1954

3

12

"Columbus Colony: Yesterday‑Today and Tomorrow"

n.d.

4

12

Fund raising

1978‑1982

5

12

Postcards of Columbus Colony

n.d.

6

12

Deafness Research & Training Center

1970‑1979

7

12

Ohio Association of the Deaf

1961‑1962

1

13

Correspondence ‑ Gallaudet Centennial

1963‑1964

2

13

Building Committee

1957‑1968

3

13

Columbus Foundation

1983‑1986

4

13

General information

1979

5

13

Presentations

1977

6

13

Hagemeyer, Alice ‑ "Deaf Pride at the Library"

1979

7

13

Ohio Citizens Council, Title XX exchange

1978‑1980

1

14

Correspondence ‑ Gannon, Jack R.

1971‑1973

2

14

Correspondence ‑ Atkinson, Jack

1968‑1970

3

14

Columbus Foundation

1987‑1988

4

14

Grievance Policy

1980

5

14

Proposals and Grants, Part 1

1975‑1977

6

14

HEW ‑ Correspondence ‑ Williams, Boyce R.

1962‑1976

7

14

Ohio Commission for the Deaf

1961‑1980

1

15

Correspondence ‑ General

1963‑1980

2

15

Correspondence ‑ Duning, Hilbert & LeRoy

1958‑1959

3

15

Commentator, Columbus Colony newsletter

1978‑1982

4

15

Groundbreaking

1974‑1977

5

15

Proposals and Grants, Part 2

1975‑1977

6

15

Hull, Raymond H. ‑ "Hearing Evaluation of the Elderly"

n.d.

7

15

Ohio Federation of Organizations of the Deaf

1948‑1958

1

16

Correspondence ‑ Merrill, Dr. Edward C., Jr.

1977‑1983

2

16

Correspondence ‑ General

1964‑1975