The founding of the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Conn., in 1817 was a crucial milestone in the way society related to people with disabilities. The time and place are significant because it was a unique conjunction of different currents which led to the school's establishment.

Many threads in developing U.S. society coalesced in Hartford in the early nineteenth century. The importance attached to universal literacy (by no means common in the world at the time) and the particular missionary religious doctrines of the prevalent Protestant sects provided both means and motive for the attempt to educate deaf people. The concept of self-reliance and the belief that religious salvation is possible through understanding the Bible determined the methods and purposes of the founders. Literacy, salvation and the skills needed to earn a living were the goals. Achieving these required clarity and fluidity of communication, which is why the school was based on sign language from the start.

The experiment aroused great interest. Governor Oliver Wolcott, in an 1818 proclamation, asked the public, "to aid . . . in elevating the condition of a class of mankind, who have been heretofore considered as incapable of mental improvement, but who are now found to be susceptible of instruction in the various arts and sciences, and of extensive attainments in moral and religious truth." His words express the great change in attitude toward deaf people which had only just occurred.

The school's founders were well aware of the groundbreaking importance of their project, and they and their successors saved a great many letters, teaching aids, illustrations, books and other objects. These materials remained in the school's possession and now form a rich collection. They document not only the history of deaf education, but also the study of educational techniques, the history of religion, and the history of Hartford, of Connecticut, and of the United States.
Among the thousands of items in the archives are:
- The oldest book on signs in English, Chirologia, 1644.
- Numerous books from the 17th, 18th and 19th century, in several languages, on deaf education.
- Personal papers of those involved in opening ASD, including founders Mason Cogswell, Thomas H. Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc; the school's earliest pupils, notably Alice Cogswell and George Loring; Alice's early tutor Lydia Sigourney, later a famous American poet, and others.
- Documents relating to the first state and first federal aid to special education in the history of the United States.
- Complete collection of the school's Annual Reports, as well as many from other schools for the deaf.
- Complete collection of the American Annals of the Deaf, oldest professional journal in the field, begun in 1847 by ASD staff.
- Extensive collections of the Silent Worker, Christian Observer and other periodicals.
- Works by 19th and 20th century deaf artists.

The Archives Today

While the ASD archive is extensive and unique, its condition has suffered over the years from the ravages of time and from well-meaning but ill-informed efforts at preservation. The school, which exists for the purpose of educating deaf and hard of hearing children, has had only limited resources to maintain the collection. However, in the autumn of 2000, a professional archivist was engaged to sort, evaluate, stabilize and preserve the materials.

Valuable 185-year-old letters which were lying unprotected in file cabinets have now been suitably housed; books which were turning to dust are being restored; and century-old photos, fading from exposure, are now protected. The school has made a commitment to properly stabilize, preserve and catalogue the collection, make it accessible to scholars and, eventually, develop interpretive exhibits and materials for the public. The school hopes to preserve for the nation's future this precious piece of its past.

Providing the best education possible for deaf and hard of hearing students remains the principle priority of the American School for the Deaf. A limited amount of funding has been made available by the school to begin the preservation, cataloguing and display of the magnificent collection housed in the ASD Archive. However, additional funding is required for the school to achieve its goals.