DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Adelia M. Hoyt memoir and photographs

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Page 82

82, UNFOLDING YEARS

The work was growing beyond our wildest dreams. The influence was good which Braille Transcribing had created was felt in many lines of work for the blind. It had stimulated blind readers by giving them more to read. It had proved of considerable help in educating the public to the real needs of the sightless. In 1925 "Evergreen" the training school for blinded soldiers near Baltimore,Md., was closed, and the men scattered to their respective homes in different locations became borrowers from general libraries. Therefore the various libraries for the blind of the country clamored for the handcopied books. We began to supply these braille collections with new and varied titles of current literature for the use of both war and civilian blind. We were helping many students through high school and college, and other individuals in business and professions, by transcribing material they needed and could not secure elsewhere. We were also giving employment at home to some blind persons as proofreaders who were paid by the local Red Cross Chapters for which they worked. 
As the work progressed and expanded other activities were developed. In order to enhance the value and usefulness of single hand-copied books, duplicating units were set up in some Red Cross Chapters. By such a method manifold copies could be produced from paper and metal plates, and these books would be available in various library collections and more widely distributed. Blind readers were benefited by furnishing them with more adequate supply of embossed literature. However, gratifying as were the results obtained the single copy book never diminished in value and continued to fill a great need. 
Book-binding groups were also established in several chapters. This greatly facilitated the placing of completed braille manuscripts into circulation more quickly. Larger libraries for the blind were adequately equipped to bind hand-copied manuscripts but the smaller library centers were unable to undertake such work. Volunteer book binding therefore proved a great boon to these smaller but much needed

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82, UNFOLDING YEARS The work was growing beyond our wildest dreams. The influence was good which Braille Transcribing had created was felt in many lines of work for the blind. It had stimulated blind readers by giving them more to read. It had proved of considerable help in educating the public to the real needs of the sightless. In 1925 "Evergreen" the training school for blinded soldiers near Baltimore,Md., was closed, and the men scattered to their respective homes in different locations became borrowers from general libraries. Therefore the various libraries for the blind of the country clamored for the handcopied books. We began to supply these braille collections with new and varied titles of current literature for the use of both war and civilian blind. We were helping many students through high school and college, and other individuals in business and professions, by transcribing material they needed and could not secure elsewhere. We were also giving employment at home to some blind persons as proofreaders who were paid by the local Red Cross Chapters for which they worked. As the work progressed and expanded other activities were developed. In order to enhance the value and usefulness of single hand-copied books, duplicating units were set up in some Red Cross Chapters. By such a method manifold copies could be produced from paper and metal plates, and these books would be available in various library collections and more widely distributed. Blind readers were benefited by furnishing them with more adequate supply of embossed literature. However, gratifying as were the results obtained the single copy book never diminished in value and continued to fill a great need. Book-binding groups were also established in several chapters. This greatly facilitated the placing of completed braille manuscripts into circulation more quickly. Larger libraries for the blind were adequately equipped to bind hand-copied manuscripts but the smaller library centers were unable to undertake such work. Volunteer book binding therefore proved a great boon to these smaller but much needed