This First Saturday I’ll be continuing the Archives as Raw History tour series, focusing on the theme of the Museum’s history of accessibility. One of the central features of our Kahlo exhibition focuses on her disabilities. This spurred me to look into the Museum’s history of working with disabled artists and visitors. The first mention I’ve found dates back to 1930 when the Education Division held twice yearly events for children with disabilities. For this installation of “Archives as Raw History” materials from the Archives will be available to browse for visitors to learn about Brooklyn Museum’s history and come to their own conclusions by reading primary source documents.
In 1970 the Community Gallery held an exhibition called Touch’N’See that was comprised of works by blind and partially sighted people. The success of this exhibition and a previous investigative study from 1966 spurred the Museum to consider building a “Touch Gallery” for both sighted and blind people that allowed objects from the Museum’s collections to be handled. The project was pursued for several years with support and collaboration from the New York Association for the Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind, The Jewish Guild for the Blind, and other. Unfortunately the project never received adequate funding to come to fruition. With the city fiscal cuts in the early 1970s and a change of administration in the Museum, the project was sadly abandoned in 1974. However, instead of creating a designated space for collections objects to be handled, the Museum has continued programs that invite visitors to experience certain objects in a multisensory approach. Today our Verbal Description and Touch Tour continues that legacy by inviting blind individuals and those with low vision to experience our collection through a descriptive gallery tour featuring tactile opportunities and other sensory engagement.
Other records from the Archives that will be available cover exhibitions that featured the work of disabled artists, for example the 1978 Bushwick: A community in Brooklyn Through the Eyes of Its Youth and National Exhibits by Blind Artists: 5th Annual in 1983, and the era from Section 504 in 1973 to the mid 90s, just after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Tour: Archives as Raw History will take place on Saturday, April 6, 2019 from 5:30–6:30 pm. 20 free tickets will be available at Admissions at 5 pm. Hope you can join us!
Posted by J. E. Molly Seegers
