Accession Number: 2019.26.20-30
Description: Series of eleven (11) black and white prints featuring Berdell "Pete" Wurzburger teaching orientation and mobility skills to a student Jan McEwen on the streets of San Francisco; Wurzburger is a heavy set man wearing a plain black suit, white shirt, and dark tie, dark frame glasses, and a short crew cut; the trainee wears a dark knee length coat, ankle socks and loafers and uses a straight white folding cane with a glide tip; the backs of the prints are stamped, "Office of the Superintendent of Schools of Alameda County Curriculum Materials Center Feb 8 1965". .20 Jan McEwen carries a large leather satchel in her left hand and the pair descends a broad brick stair in front of a building with a row of doors; the suns shines brightly. .21 McEwen sweeps her cane, trailing the base of a set of broad curved brick steps; Wurzburger follows just behind her. .22 McEwen, carrying a large leather satcher in her left hand, ascends the stairs seen previously, her can held vertically in front of her. .23 The pair has just crossed a marked crosswalk on a city street, McEwen sweeps in front of her with the cane and the motion leaves the cane tip blurred; Wurzburger is just behind her; a pedestrian in dark jacket and light slacks walks at far right; a theatre marquee and parked cars are in the background. .24 Seen from the side, the pair is paused at a marked crosswalk at a four way intersection, McEwen on the edge of the curb with the tip of her cane on the street, Wurzburger standing behind her; a pair of cars are stopped at the traffic light behind them. .25 The pair heading away from the camera, in the middle of a marked crosswalk, McEwen sweeping her cane in front of her, Wurzburger off to the left but almost parallel with her; there are two other pedestriand ahead of her in the crosswalk; background is the theatre marquee and parked car steet seen from .23. .26 Jan McEwen emerges from the large glass paned doors of a stone building marked "Girls Gymnasium" above the door; she has a large leather satchel in her left hand; her cane tip is out in front of her; Wurzburger faces her from off to the left. .27 The pair walks down a sidewalk in front of a storefront window protected by an awning; McEwen's cane tip is out in front; Wurzburger is just behind and to the right; a man carrying an infant is on the left under the awning. .28 The moment after the picture in .24; McEwen has stepped out into the crosswalk, her cane in front of her and Wurzburger a step behind; a woman in a coat crossing in the same direction but one step ahead holds her hand to her face, shielding her eyes from the bright sun; a car races past in the opposite direction in the right background. .29 McEwen approaches a glass door under an awning on a city sidewalk, the tip of her cane encountering the base of the door; Wurzburger is a pace behind, but also angled toward the door. .30 The pair stand inside the arc of the open door of a light colored automobile; McEwen has her left hand on the car roof and her cane probes into the passenger compartment; Wurzburger is just behind her observing.
Date: Feb-65
History/Provenance: From the collection of O&M pioneer Berdell "Pete" Wurzburger.
Credit Line: Gift of Mike Meteyer, 2019.26.
Subjects: Orientation and mobility
