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MiM 004 - Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky

MiM 004 - Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky

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 Confession:  I love manufacturing. I work in the manufacturing industry, so when my travels combine both a factory and a museum – sign me up!  Have you ever watched the television show, “How Things Are Made”?  I am completely sucked in when I come across an episode – I’ve even recorded it (check my DVR if you don’t believe me.)  I’ve worked in product development at various manufacturing companies for years and I still love watching how an idea gets turned into a physical product.  Pair that with a museum that covers a niche topic like the history of Braille – something we probably all sort of learned in school, but really don’t know a lot about -- and then showcases incredible individuals that take what everyone thinks of as a life sentence and completely flips it around is a definite must-see on my travel to-do list.   So that’s how I found myself at the Museum for the American Printing House for the Blind  located in Louisville, Kentucky.  On a beautiful Friday morning, I sat down with Michael Hudson, Director of the Museum for the American Printing House for the Blind.  The organization (also referred to as APH) is a unique combination of both a printing house and a museum with a distinctive focus – preserving and presenting the remarkable contributions of people who are blind, and the history of printing materials for the blind or visually impaired community.  I’ll admit that my experience with history of Braille is sparse.  I knew Louis Braille developed it, and it was made up of different dot patterns, but really nothing beyond that.  As I talked to Michael, the whole fascinating story of “tactile” writing emerged.  The museum tour is like a 3-in-1 experience:  First, there is the museum itself, which starts with the history of tactile languages, the development of Braille and the “war of the dots,” in the 19th century and leads up to contemporary examples of people and technology impacting the blind or visually impaired community today.  Second, is the factory tour of the printing house itself – this is where you’ll see Braille books being printed, tactile graphics being made, and even the original mechanical machines (like the “old Pearl”) that are still used for specialized tasks today. Third, is a little side trip into the educational materials the APH has created to improve the lives of blind or visually impaired children.  It’s amazing the creativity and dedication of this organization as they continue to develop new products to help kids in the classroom.  Museum Tour Highlights: The museum is broken up into two galleries:  the 1883 Gallery, which focuses on the history of the APH and its contributions over the years; and the Callahan Gallery, which focuses on the history and education of blind people.  If you can’t visit the museum in person, you check out a virtual tour on their website.  Temple Entrance – as you enter the museum, there is a large covered with ancient tactile languages, I never thought about how ancient languages were designed to communicate both by touch and visually – carved into stone or tablets, these languages could be read by the eyes or by the fingers.  Fire Doors – look closely behind the exhibits as you enter the 1883 Gallery and you’ll see huge fire doors – another nod to the original 1883 factory building.  The doors have a cable attached with a weight at the end and a little metal strip that melts at 200°F.  If there was a fire in the factory, the metal strip would melt and the large metal door slides across shutting off that part of the factory.  I love seeing the old bones of a building providing hidden touches of history. Valentin Haüy – this is the man that really started it all by creating the first school for the blind and visually impaired in Paris, France.  Michael tells an incredible story of what some blind people had to do to earn a living, which stirred Haüy into deciding there had to be another option which provided opportunities and kept a person’s dignity.   Francois Lesueur – Haüy’s first student.  One of his jobs was to pick up Haüy’s mail every day.  Haüy had a side job as a translator for the King of France and would occasionally receive embossed invitations from the King.  Lesueur could “read” the embossing on the invitations, which gave Haüy the idea to developed “raised letter” books for the blind.   War of the Dots - many systems were developed in the early 19th century; even different countries had different systems.  Most initially started with just raising the letters of the existing alphabet, but the curves in writing weren’t always clear.  So then different typefaces were developed to make it easier to read the raised letters with your fingers.  Moon Type – an example of one of several different “arbitrary codes”  that were developed.  It was kind of based on the alphabet, but used different symbols for the ...

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