Call Number:

MC.826

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.25 linear ft. (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Willard E. Mead collection (HC.MC.826) Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

circa 1852-1914 (inclusive)

Creator:

Mead, Willard E.

Abstract:

Letters written by Western cultural and social leaders of the 19th century to Sir Francis Joseph Campbell, a notable educator of the blind.

Sir Francis Joseph Campbell (1832-1914) was an American-born musician, anti-slavery activist, and educator of the blind. After losing his sight at the age of five, Campbell attended the Tennessee School for the Blind, where he became a music teacher at the age of 16. He then attended the University of Tennessee and subsequently held the position of musical director at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts. Campbell's anti-slavery views were discovered by other citizens during his time in Wisconsin, and he was given 24 hours to renounce his views or be hanged. Campbell did not renounce his anti-slavery sentiments, but was saved from hanging due to sympathy for his blindness. In 1872, Cambell co-founded, alongside Thomas Armitage, the Royal Normal College and Academy for the Blind (now the Royal National College for the Blind) in the United Kingdom. Information from the Royal National College for the Blind.

Letters addressed to Sir Francis Campbell, founder of the Royal Norwood College for the Blind in England. These letters are from personalities and leaders in the cultural, social, and political affairs of the period. Among them are Lyman Abbott, Alexander G. Bell, Robert Browning, Andrew Carnegie, Joseph H. Choate, Dinah Maria Craik, S. Coleridge Taylor, General John Eaton, George Henschel, Helen Keller, Anton Rubinstein, John Ruskin, Clara Schumann, Arthur Sullivan, Brigham Young, and others. Some letters are directed to Sarah Faulkner Campbell, Sir Francis Campbell's wife.

The letters concern the education of the blind and Campbell's efforts to enlist European notables, particularly musicians, in education of the blind.