Description:
The growth of urban populations resulting from the Industrial Revolution, led to a more powerful lobby for deaf people. This mug may have been part of a campaign on behalf of the deaf or was perhaps designed specifically for deaf children. A similar transfer printed mug in the collection of Historic New England was owned Charles Barrett (1807-1862), who lost his hearing as a child, as a result of medications he was taking. Charles was one of the first students at the Hartford Asylum of the Deaf and Dumb. Founded in 1817, the asylum was the nation's first school for students with any kind of disability. English pearlware child's mug with purple transfer print illustrating the British Sign Language alphabet.
Label Text:
Building a Collection, September 27, 2025-February 23, 2025: Decorated with a transfer print illustrating the British sign language alphabet, this mug promoted the cause of deaf education and found possible use as a teaching tool for a deaf child. Charles Barrett (1807-1862) of New Ipswich, NH, who lost his hearing as a child, owned a similar transfer-printed mug. Charles was one of the first students at the American Asylum for the Deaf, established at Hartford, CT, in 1817. Several Deerfield residents attended the school throughout the 19th century, including Ellen G. Felton, Aaron Fuller,
Emeline E. Robbins, Helen M. Stebbins, Polly Stebbins, Roland Stebbins, Eugene Trask, John Trask, and itinerant artist Augustus Fuller. Early students at the asylum often contended with unfair characterizations that denied their innate abilities and attributed their successes to their instructors alone. Perhaps reacting to this attitude, Augustus Fuller later expressed his preference for the term “deaf mute” rather than “deaf and dumb.” The latter placed deaf students on the same level as animals, while the former acknowledged their intellectual capacity and agency.
Tags:
hands; letters Subjects:
Pottery; Hand; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2021.4 |
