#hooverlibrary

Helen Keller with Anne Sullivan in 1888.

Helen Keller Met Anne Sullivan #OTW in 1887 Suffragist, Rights Activist, & Humanitarian By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

“The two most interesting characters of the 19th century are Napoleon and Helen Keller.” –-Mark Twain

Keller and Mark Twain, 1902, Keller left her records to the American Federation for the Blind (AFB). Our National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) helped fund online access to this collection. Happy Women’s History Month! 135 years ago this week, 6-year-old Helen Keller began working with Anne Sullivan (later dubbed “the miracle worker” & immortalized by Hollywood). Undeterred by her deafness and blindness, Keller became a suffragist, activist, educator, writer, and co-founder of the ACLU. Of course we have related records!

Interesting related fact Keller and Sullivan’s were inseparable for nearly 50 years (from 1877 until Sullivan’s death) and remain together today–interred in DC’s National Cathedral crypt, marked by a bronze plaque in braille. Sullivan was the first woman interred at the Cathedral (source here).

Suffragist Helen Keller Keller participated in the 1913 “Woman Suffrage Parade” in DC and spoke/wrote/advocated in support of not only women’s suffrage but also civil rights, labor rights, reproductive rights, and disability rights.

Petition to support the Federal Suffrage Amendment,6/15/1916, NARA ID 167059922.

We demand the right to vote, not because we think we are better or wiser than men, but because it is our right as much as it is theirs. And… we cannot abuse this right more than the men have done by themselves.

Excerpt from Keller’s speech: “Why Woman Wants to Vote” 1920, made available in part thanks to a grant from the NHPRC.

Helen Keller and Eleanor Roosevelt The two first met in 1936 and remained friends for decades. They had much in common as famous women actively involved in human rights, women’s rights, and global cooperation. Our FDR Library holds correspondence between Keller and both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eleanor wrote about Keller in her July 3, 1945, My Day column, emphases added:

Last week I went to the office of the American Federation for the Blind to receive the resolution… which Miss Helen Keller wanted to present to me personally… commemorating my husband’s services as honorary chairman. As I stood and listened to Miss Keller speak, I thought how wonderfully both Miss Keller and my husband typified the triumph over physical handicap. Many of you may not know that Miss Keller, with her faithful friend and interpreter, has visited a number of our service hospitals. Some people felt that she might discourage our wounded men. Instead of that, the men recognized the greatness of her personality and the serene and courageous spirit which has made of her life a rich and full existence. She carried comfort to the men who were facing their own handicaps and trying to find the courage to build normal lives in spite of them.

Eleanor and Helen at Martha’s Vineyard, 8/25/1954, FDR Library, NARA ID 195945.

Letter from Keller to President Hoover, 2/5/1933, Hoover Library, NARA ID 7722949.

Helen Keller and President Hoover Keller asked President Hoover to visit the American Foundation for the Blind’s NY recording studio to see “talking books recorded on a phonograph disc.”

Excerpt:

Your presence at the Foundation studio would give a tremendous impetus to this project, and the blind in this country would be gladdened by a message from you saying that a new pathway of light is being blazed through their darkness.

See also:

Helen Keller wrote to 8 U.S. Presidents, from Teddy Roosevelt to LBJ, including: Letter from Keller to President Hoover

Helen Keller and the Hoovers, Hoover Heads blog

Research the Americans with Disabilities Act

Disability History from the Presidential Libraries, Pieces of History

HOOVERITE (rail) ROAD TRIP to DC “Hoover Birthplace Special”

Herbert Hoover's 1928 Presidential win put West Branch, IA on the map. Nearly 300 excited Iowans boarded the "Hoover Birthplace Special" (rail) road trip to DC to join their native son for his 1929 Inauguration. Read Hoover Library archivist Lynn Smith's Hoover Heads blog, Inaugural Train Trip from West Branch to DC to learn:

Who were the self-proclaimed "Hooverites" who filled 14 Pullman coaches?

Which Iowa college band played the Iowa Corn Song repeatedly? “The Iowa Corn song seemed to rate very highly on the trip.”

Did VIPs really include one of Hoover's grade school teachers?

Who boarded in Wilton, IA, with a calliope for musical entertainment?

How much did this road trip cost the Hooverites?

Were fellow road trippers really given "a genuine Iowa corn cane" when they boarded?

Was the epic road trip bipartisan?

What sort of festivities and tours awaited this VIP group in DC?.

Did it rain on his (Inaugural) Parade?

What did some of those VIPs really think about this road trip? Find out from their diary entries!

A 1928 Tall Corn Girl sign on Iowa farm also measured the height of the corn! Online.

Here's the New York Times coverage 3/3/1929:

IOWA CORN SONG LYRICS:

We’re from I-O-way, I-O-way. State of all the land, Joy on ev-‘ry hand. We’re from I-O-way, I-O-way. That’s where the tall corn grows

The best known and most popular song of the state is the famous "Iowa Corn Song," which every loyal son and daughter of the Hawkeye State sings lustily on any and all occasions, reaching their hands as high toward Heaven as they possibly can when the words roar forth "That's where the tall corn grows." (from here).

JFK, Anne Sullivan & Helen Keller 4/8/1961. JFK Library ID JFKWHP-1961-04-08-A.

Helen Keller and Mark Twain, 1902, Keller left her records to the American Federation for the Blind (AFB). The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) helped fund online access to this collection.

Helen Keller Met Ann Sullivan #OTW in 1887

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs “The two most interesting characters of the 19th century are Napoleon and Helen Keller.” ---Mark Twain Happy Women's History Month! 134 years ago this week, 6-year-old Helen Keller started working with Anne Sullivan (later dubbed "the miracle worker" & immortalized by Hollywood). Undeterred by her deafness and blindness, Keller became a suffragist, activist, educator, writer, and co-founder of the ACLU. Of course we have related records!

Interesting related fact (source here):

Keller and Sullivan's were inseparable for nearly 50 years (from 1877 until Sullivan's death) and remain together today–interred in DC's National Cathedral crypt, marked by a bronze plaque in braille. Sullivan was the first woman interred at the Cathedral.

Suffragist Helen Keller

Keller participated in the 1913 "Woman Suffrage Parade" in DC and spoke/wrote/advocated in support of not only women's suffrage but also civil rights, labor rights, reproductive rights, and disability rights.

Petition to support the Federal Suffrage Amendment,6/15/1916, NARA ID 167059922.

We demand the right to vote, not because we think we are better or wiser than men, but because it is our right as much as it is theirs. And... we cannot abuse this right more than the men have done by themselves.

Excerpt from Keller's speech: "Why Woman Wants to Vote" 1920, made available in part thanks to a grant from the NHPRC.

Helen Keller and Eleanor Roosevelt

The two first met in 1936 and remained friends for decades. They had much in common as famous women actively involved in human rights, women's rights, and global cooperation. Our FDR Library holds correspondence between Keller and both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eleanor wrote about Keller in her July 3, 1945, My Day column:

Last week I went to the office of the American Federation for the Blind to receive the resolution... which Miss Helen Keller wanted to present to me personally... commemorating my husband's services as honorary chairman. As I stood and listened to Miss Keller speak, I thought how wonderfully both Miss Keller and my husband typified the triumph over physical handicap.

Many of you may not know that Miss Keller, with her faithful friend and interpreter, has visited a number of our service hospitals. Some people felt that she might discourage our wounded men. Instead of that, the men recognized the greatness of her personality and the serene and courageous spirit which has made of her life a rich and full existence. She carried comfort to the men who were facing their own handicaps and trying to find the courage to build normal lives in spite of them.

Eleanor Roosevelt with Helen Keller, Martha's Vineyard, MA, 8/25/1954, FDR Library, NARA ID 195945.

Letter from Keller to President Hoover, 2/5/1933, Hoover Library, NARA ID 7722949.

Helen Keller and President Hoover Keller asked President Hoover to visit the American Foundation for the Blind's NY recording studio to see "talking books recorded on a phonograph disc."

Excerpt:

Your presence at the Foundation studio would give a tremendous impetus to this project, and the blind in this country would be gladdened by a message from you saying that a new pathway of light is being blazed through their darkness.

See also:

Letter from Keller to President Hoover Re: Her Upcoming Trip to the Far East

Barney watches as Miss Beazley kisses Kitty, White House pets’ Valentine's Day portrait, 2/8/2007, George W. Bush Library, NARA ID 117886091.

Valentine’s Day card from President Truman to First Lady Bess Wallace. Truman Library, NARA ID 134738115.

Unique, 3rd term Valentine’s Day card to FDR from Richard Wojciechowski, 1941: “And believe me that I made it all by myself,” Roosevelt Library, online. 

This 1918 valentine references the WWI effort to economize on food, termed "Hooverizing." Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, online here. 

HAPPY (PANDEMIC) VALENTINE’S DAY!

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

Enjoy this eclectic selection from our holding! Please know that National Archives staffers are VERY romantic! See below: the 1975 National Archives “St. Valentine’s Day Hop,” held in a hallway!

National Archives’ "St. Valentine's Day Hop”, 2/14/1975, NARA ID 35810666.

National Archives’ "St. Valentine's Day Hop”, 2/14/1975, NARA ID ID 35810660

National Archives’ "St. Valentine's Day Hop”, 2/14/1975, NARA ID 35810660.

"Ya Got Trouble"  from Meredith Willson's "The Music Man", Robert Preston & Shirley Jones, online here, GIF from here. 

YA GOT TROUBLE!  PRIME YOUR SOUL OR PIMP YOUR RIDE?

Trouble in River City:  Hoover shares Aunt Hannah’s vision of his town’s descent into SIN!

Yet another quirky post by Miriam Kleiman, Program Director for Public Affairs.

While campaigning for reelection in Iowa in Oct. 1932 (spoiler alert: he lost to FDR), President Hoover spoke of dramatic changes to his hometown (West Branch, IA) since his Quaker boyhood (emphasis added): 

“As you know the Quakers had an old-fashioned meetinghouse...  I have a vivid recollection of an elderly Aunt Hannah who delivered herself one day very emphatically on the subject of increasing wickedness of the world... she prophesied that if these habits were followed the day would come when that meetinghouse would be turned into the mockery of a theatre. That was the worst thing she could think of. I went back 25 years later and to my astonishment her prophesy had come true. The community had become affluent enough to build a better meetinghouse, and they had moved the old one across the street and changed it into a moving-picture house.”

Aunt Hannah called it - Hoover’s boyhood Quaker Friends meetinghouse went through an extended identity crisis, the equivalent of an Amish Rumspringa, changing from a sex-segregated place of (often) silent prayer to a movie theatre (with mixed seating!!!), then a car garage, then a meetinghouse once again.*

I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon, Then beer from a bottle. An' the next thing ya know, Your son is playin' for money (from The Music Man)

You decide - prophesy or progress? Read the Hoover Heads blog post by Hoover Library Director Thomas F. Schwartz and weigh in:  

What’s better? Wait quietly until the spirit moves you? Or help the spirit along with a music and a paid spiritual guide?  

What’s better? Repair souls or repair cars?

If you were a building, what would you want to be? A quiet house of worship? A movie theater? A body shop?

Friends Meetinghouse on the grounds of the Hoover National Historic Site. NPS Photo by John Tobiason

*Thankfully, the building’s soul was saved when the Hoover Birthplace Foundation bought, moved and restored it (redo circa 1964, pre-HGTV). Aunt Hannah would be so relieved! 

One fine night, they leave the pool hall,  Headin' for the dance at the Armory! Libertine men and Scarlet women! And Rag-time, shameless music That'll grab your son and your daughter With the arms of a jungle animal instinct! Mass-steria! Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground! (from The Music Man)

STAY TUNED to learn how Robert Preston, the Broadway Music Man himself, became the paid flack for the President's Council on Physical Fitness, the group behind that awful Presidential Fitness Test, and:

Hear “GO YOU CHICKEN FAT”, the Youth Fitness song!

Read a student’s complaint about teachers having “midriff bulge”