The Deaf / Their Position in Society and the Provision for Their Education in the United States - Harry Best

Transcriber's Note:
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Significant corrections have been listed at the end of the text.

TO
THE DEAF OF THE LAND
AND TO THOSE WHO LOVE THEM

FOREWORD

The aim of the present study is to ascertain as far as possible the standing of the deaf, or, as they are so often called, the "deaf and dumb," in society in America, and to examine the treatment that has been accorded to them—to present an account of an element of the population of whom little is generally known. In this effort regard is had not only to the interests of the deaf themselves, but also, with the growing concern in social problems, to the fixing of a status for them in the domain of the social sciences. In other words, the design may be said to be to set forth respecting the deaf something of what the social economist terms a "survey," or, as it may more popularly be described, to tell "the story of 'the deaf and dumb.'"

The material employed in the preparation of the work has been collected from various documents, and from not a little personal correspondence: from the reports and other publications of schools for the deaf, of organizations interested in the deaf, of state charities, education or other departments, of the United States bureaus of education and of the census; from the proceedings of bodies interested in the education of the deaf, of organizations composed of the deaf, of state and national conferences of charities and corrections; from the statutes of the several states; and from similar publications. From the American Annals of the Deaf the writer has drawn unsparingly, and to it a very considerable debt is owed. Valuable assistance has also been obtained from the Volta Review, formerly the Association Review, and from papers published by the deaf or in schools for the deaf. Other sources of information used will be noted from time to time in the work itself.