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MSS 154
Gallaudet
Centennial Memorial Fund, est. 1883
Gallaudet University Archives.
Descriptive Summary
Repository:
Gallaudet University Archives Administrative Information
Acquisition
Information:
The collection of the Gallaudet Centennial Memorial Fund was in the
Presidential Papers of Edward M. Gallaudet. The date of acquisition
is unknown.
Related Material in the Archives: See ALADIN.
Historical Sketch The Gallaudet Centennial Memorial Fund was organized by a committee of 18 members of the National Association of the Deaf at its 2nd National Convention in 1883. Its purpose was to raise funds for the erection of a memorial statue in honor of Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and his pupil, Alice Cogswell. The funds were raised by various people of the United States and its territories. The Memorial Fund committee proposed that the statue be situated on the grounds of the National Deaf Mute College, now Gallaudet University. The committee commissioned a well known sculptor, Daniel Chester French to design and sculpt the statue. Amos G. Draper, a member of the Class of 1872 of the National Deaf Mute College and a faculty member of the college was responsible for collect funds and report to the committee. The funds were amounted to over $12,000 and the statue was completed in 1888.
The dedication of the statue was
occurred on the campus of the college on June, 1889. The National
Association of the Deaf convention was held on the campus at the
same time. Also, a group of alumni of the college formed a new
association, called Gallaudet College Alumni Association. The Gallaudet Centennial Memorial Fund collection consists of letters; drafts of program books; drafts of inscriptions for the stone base of the statue; invoices; list of names of contributors; and treasurer’s reports.
The collection, which consists of
approximately 1,700 pages, dates from 1885 to 1891. The bulk of the
collection consists of letters from agents of each union who was
responsible for sending funds, including list of names of
contributors. The next bulk of the collection consists of list of
names of the contributors of each union in the United States and its
territories. The bulk dates are mostly between 1886 and 1889, of
which the fund raising were collected. The largest subject in the
collection is focused on the fundraising for the construction of the
statue of Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell. Included
in the collection there are original address for the unveiling of
the statue written by Edmund Booth. Also included is an original
poem written by a deaf poet, Laura Searing. The most interesting
letters in the collection are that a deaf sculptor wrote a criticism
letter to Amos G. Draper for not selecting a deaf sculptor. A few
letters written by notable persons such as Augustus Saint Gaudens, a
prominent sculptor; John McAllister Schofield, a Civil War general;
and Olive Logan, a well known actress, writer, and lecturer. No Series.
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