Originally published in 1930, The Deaf Mute Howls challenged the prevailing practice of teaching deaf children to speak and read lips while prohibiting the use of sign language. Albert Ballin's sharp observations in this remarkable book detail his experiences (and those of others) at a late 19th-century residential school for deaf students and his frustrations as an adult seeking acceptance in the majority hearing society. The Deaf Mute Howls charts the ambiguous attitudes of deaf people toward themselves at this time. Ballin himself makes matter-of-fact use of terms now considered...

In 1917, Henri Gaillard journeyed to the United States for the centennial celebration of the American School for the Deaf (ASD). The oldest school for deaf students in America, ASD had been confounded by renowned deaf French teacher Laurent Clerc, thus inspiring Gaillard's invitation. Gaillard visited deaf people everywhere he went and recorded his impressions in a detailed journal. His essays present a sharply focused portrait of the many facets of Deaf America during a pivotal year in its history. Gaillard crossed the Atlantic only a few weeks after the United States entered World War I. In...

Howard L. Terry wrote a novel between 1917 and 1922, which he donated to the Gallaudet University Archives in 1951. There it rested until a resurgence of interest in Deaf literature led to its recent rediscovery. Mickey s Harvest: A Novel of a Deaf Boy s Checkered Life recounts the rollicking tale of a young deaf man and how he learned to survive and thrive at the advent of the 20th century.
Mickey Dunmore s story begins with the sinking of his father s merchant sailing ship and ends with a cliffhanger in World War I. In school, after an illness caused his deafness, Mickey finds...