Accession Number: 2009.24.16.1296-1306
Description: BW prints, most captioned "Kyushu Lighthouse for the Blind, Shinsei-Kai, Oita City, Japan"; .1296: Two-story building campus with large windows and tiled roofs behind picket fence and brushy yard; captioned "New buildings occupied by the Lighthouse for the Blind in Oita City, Japan"; .1297: Two young women in skirts and blouses lean on a wooden railing on a raised balcony; .1298: Young women gathered in front of a building with Milton and Marjorie Stauffer; Japanese man in suit in middle is Masumi Seo; captioned "Dr. and Mrs. Stauffer visiting the Lighthouse for the Blind in Oita. Shown in the picture are the Director, Masumi Seo, his assistant and 10 of the blind girls now receiving vocational training in typing, leather work and knitting"; .1299: A group poses for the camera in front of the Lighthouse buildings; left to right, O.H. Nicholas, Marjorie Stauffer, Dr. Milton Stauffer, Lighthouse Director Masumi Seo, Col. Mullins; .1300: Female clients of the Lighthouse pose on a sunny area outside the building, with an unidentified Caucasian man on the left; .1301: Clients of the Lighthouse pose on a sunny area outside the building, in front of open windows; .1302: Two women sit at low desks, reading braille with their left hands while taking notes in braille on a slate and stylus with their right; .1303: Two young women sit at a desk, listening to a large radio; .1304: A woman bends over a large basin or tub, scrubbing laundry on a board; there is a spigot on the wall above the tub; .1305: A woman reaches overhead to hang wet laundry on a lattice of bamboo poles; .1306: Two women sit at a desk, their hands on open braille books.
Medium: Photographic Paper
Date: ca.1948
History/Provenance: Nippon Lighthouse was started in 1922 when Takeo Iwahashi, who had became blind while studying at university, began producing braille books at home, and then opened a braille library. Iwahashi was a key host for Helen Keller during her visits to Japan in 1937 anmd 1948. The origins of the Lighthouse for the Blind in Oita City is obscure and needs research.
Credit Line: AFB Migel Memorial Library Collection, 2009.24
Subjects: Japan Braille Braillewriters Laundry Reading Radios
