1) April 16th 1939
Olaf Hassel reported his discovery of a new comet.
2) March 7th 1960
Olaf Hassel discovered a new star (a nova).
Olaf Hassel was a very active man until he died, 74 years old. Astronomy was his chief interest. He became an honorary member of Norwegian Society of Astronomy in 1969. He received a number of honorary recognitions from different societies of science (both home and abroad). For many years he was a northern lights-observer for a well-known professor, and he was employed as a meteorologist-assignee at the meteorological institute in Oslo.
Olaf Hassel was also known for his many scientific investigations and measurements, and he delivered precise reports from all his observations.
This is true in the case of the Italian deaf artist Umberto Bellei (1888 - 1963) whose life and work will be presented as an insight into a different branch of art: the art of model making.
Bellei used his skills and creativity to build a scale replica of the Cathedral of Modena (originally built in the first half of the XII century) and its Bell Tower, the symbol of the city. Within ten years (1935 -1945) his masterpiece was completed. The difficulty of recreating both the interior and exterior in detail was overcome by expert combination of accurate measurement and exact proportion, and choice of appropriate materials. It is important to note that he used only second-hand, recycled and natural materials. In any case, his poor finances would not allow him to buy ready-made components.
Particular attention will be given to the historical importance and artistic value of Bellei's unique work of art. It will be compared with the real Cathedral and Bell Tower using colour transparencies. Its relevance to the deaf community will also be discussed.
My 1996 article "The Chaucer Monogram" ('Word and Image' 12: 127-142) describes a series of portraits of Geoffrey Chaucer, which show him exhibiting his initials GC in the International Finger Alphabet, almost 200 years before Melchor de Yebra's publication. In this article, I discuss how the finger alphabet could have been in existence in England at such an early date and how Chaucer or the artist who first painted him might have known the finger alphabet. My presentation will include slides from this article and a summary of my ideas. Later, I learned of more research on this topic by Joseph Castronovo, which I will now include in my presentation. I will also include a discussion of Chaucer's best known character, the Wife of Bath, who was deaf, and how he may have known about the experience of deafness. I consider the possibility that Chaucer may have become deaf himself at around age 45, when he retired from public life and went to live in the country and write "The Canterbury Tales".
Mathias Stoltenberg was born into a wealthy family July 21, 1799, in Tønsberg. He was the eldest son of constitution founder (and later member of the parliament) and businessman/shipowner Carl Peter Stoltenberg (1767 - 1830) and Karen Mathea Bull (1775 - 1859). His father was a strongly opposed to the union between Norway and Sweden.
Not only was Mathias upbringing under affluent conditions, but also in a harmonious and cultivated environment. His father had planned for his son to become an official employee, and sent him to an education better than the public school could offer, to one of the best educators of the time, the priest Jakob A. Wille. But Mathias lost his hearing at the age of 11, due to typhus (scarlet fever?). Naturally, this was a shock to his parents. A few years later they sent him to Copenhagen, Denmark, to provide him with the best medical aid for his hearing loss. But it did not help.
Still, he remained in Copenhagen for over ten years. He was educated as joiner and painter; he received private tutoring by the professor C. A. Lorenzen at the drawing academy. Possibly he also attended the Castberg Institute for the Deaf and Mute.
When Stoltenberg returned to Norway in 1826, he faced difficult times. He had applied for membership as a joiner in Oslo the same year. He had also applied for positions as a drawing teacher at both the school for deaf in Trondheim (1836 - 39) and at the art school in Oslo (1841). Unfortunately, all his applications were turned down.
When his father died in 1830 the estate went into bankruptcy and the home of his childhood was dissolved. From then on he travelled around, working as portrait painter and joiner in order to provide for himself. Within these years he travelled all across the country, from Flekkefjord in the south, all the way to Tromsø in the north, until he tired of travelling. In 1857 and for the remaining years of his life he settled in Vang, Hedmark. This is where he died November 2nd 1871.
This presentation will outline Carmichael's life and career, in the context of early European settlement of Australia. Slides of his work will also be shown.
The incredible success of the theatre among both Deaf and hearing audiences in the 60s and 70s became possible due the groups of Deaf students in Shukin Higher Drama College and devoted work of Deaf and hearing directors. The theatre (it was called the Theatre of Mime and Gesture) employs only Deaf actors and actresses and uses interpreters for voice-over. The repertoire includes all genres: from pantomime to serious drama and musicals.
The paper will try to find the reasons why the theatre has been losing its former popularity.
In order to give him the educational development in the best, his mother put him in the Royal Institute for the Deaf in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (Brussels). There, his astonishing drawing gifts had been quickly unveiled.
At the age of 17 years old, Albert Raty entered into the Blanc-Garin Studio where so much talented artists had been formed. He stayed there for eight years before going to Paris in the purpose of taking the French painter Lucien Simon's courses for three years.
Albert Raty visited several museums in Holland, in France, in Spain and in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg in order to acquire a certain knowledge of painting art. Back home in the Ardennes, upon painting on place, he reflected the real beauties of his native country's losen patches in a marvellous way. He exposed his paintings in the International Salon for the Silencious Artists in New-York in 1934.
Thanks to his deafness, his passion for Ardennes landscape paintings had not been fading at all. He was able to put together his classical conception summarizing the pure, physical and solid construction and his romantic view symbolized by a violent, dark and dramatic art.
Under a restricted visual field, his landscape paintings had been realized by intensifying the chosen details in a eloquent way. Weren't they the results of his deafness' the most complete loneliness whence his keenness of sight attained it highest degree?
At the age of 81 years old, Albert Raty died as an unknown artist but it is not much later that he has won a great fame among numerous Belgian painters.
Karl Albert Tallroth (1871-1899) got his basic education at the Turku school for the deaf. After that he qualified for a joiner's profession. He studied at the School for industrial art in Helsinki e.g. drawing, woodwork, building drawing and modelling. Later he got interested in the arts and crafts and worked in the Arabia ceramic factory in Helsinki. He also made ornaments for many public buildings. Tallroth's sculptures are mainly portraits, which he made for example of Carl Oscar Malm (the founder of the first school for the deaf in Finland) and of some significant persons in the Finnish culture. Tallroth worked actively in the deaf clubs of Helsinki and Turku and had an important role in the establishment of many other deaf societies in Finland. He was also the key person in establishing the Finnish Association of the deaf but unfortunately died young before seeing the result of his efforts.
Juho Felix Talvia (1879-1960) received his education at the Turku school for the deaf after which he went to the Craft School in Tampere. After that he studied art at the School for industrial art and at the drawing school of the Finnish Association for the Arts. He worked in stone workshops and took part in the decorating work of many public buildings. Talvia was a member of the Finnish Arts Association and participated in several exhibitions of Turku and Tampere Art Associations. He travelled e.g. in Berlin, Rome, Florence and Austria working short periods in some of those places. Talvia was a chairman and a treasurer of the Heffata society of the deaf in 1917-1936. He was an active member of the Helsinki deaf club and the Finnish Association of the deaf.
Also Sävele Angervo (1879-1938) got his basic education at the Turku school for the deaf. He studied art at the Art Association's drawing school at Turku. Then he moved to Helsinki to study at the School for industrial art, and at the drawing school of the Finnish Association for the Arts. Angervo painted landscapes, buildings and religious motives. He was known for his portraits. He also drew ethnologically significant pictures of the boat types used in the west coast and archipelago of Finland. Angervo travelled in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. He was an active member of the Societies of the deaf in Helsinki and Turku and was one of the persons contributing to the foundation of the Association of the Deaf in Finland.
We demonstrate that the knowledge Goya had about the hand alphabet is previous to all the evidences we exposed before. We base this in his representation of the 'g' sign, the first letter of his surname, in a 1795 famous portrait. But the hand seems to be pointing at something, too, and then we compared this hand's configuration with other hand "pointing at" in other pictures. One of them is another portrait of the same person, but painted two years after the first one, where it is easy to see that here it is only pointing, but shows the same message written in a ring: "Goya".
Finally, we allude to the temporary correlation between this representation of the sign and the first test of public teaching to deaf and dumb people in Spain.
We explain the main differences between Goya's alphabet and Juan Pablo Bonet's one (1620) and why it is impossible to compare the facing and the position of the hand's palm in the alphabets without knowing the location where the sign performance is done.
It can be demonstrated that the exact sign performance location is in front of the waist in "Las cifras de la mano" (1812), and we give indications that it is so in another Spanish alphabet, that of Hervàs y Panduro (about 1795).
We conclude that for the first time the true facing and position of the hand in the alphabets previous to "Las cifras de la mano" can be determined, and we study some signs of Juan Pablo Bonet's hand alphabet as an example.
The Booths became successful members of the Anamosa community and leaders of it. They raised three children there; Edmund owned and edited the main city newspaper for several decades; and they helped build the community in various ways, including donating land for a church and partaking, primarily through the columns of their newspaper, in politics and boosterism. Today one of the main city streets is called "Booth Street," and it borders a section of the town known as the "Booth Subdivision" on early 20th century maps.
Yet the Booths did not forget their association with the deaf world. On the contrary, Edmund helped to found the Iowa School for the Deaf, and he chaired the meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, that established the National Association of the Deaf. His newspaper regularly carried information about deaf people, and Edmund contributed articles to "The American Annals of the Deaf." The Booths also attracted other deaf people to their small Iowa community, and town records show that at one point there were five deaf families living there. Finally, the youngest son of Edmund and Mary Ann, Frank Walworth Booth (who was hearing), became a teacher and administrator in schools for the deaf.
The Booths, then, represent 19th century deaf Americans who were both part of the American deaf community and yet firmly at home and active within the hearing community as well. How they accomplished this, whether it was possible only in a frontier community, and what sacrifices it may have entailed (particularly for Mary Ann) are interesting historical questions.
My paper is an exploration of the 1850s-1880s experiences of a Louisiana family with five Deaf children. The eldest children were educated in Louisiana by means of the manual system. When the Louisiana school closed because of the Civil War, the children began to attend a sign-language based residential school in New York. The younger children were later transferred to the new Whipple school in order to learn to speak. One hearing family member described her happiness with the new technique of oralism: "What a great thing it would be for [them] & how fortunate to have the one talent which has for years been withheld, brought at last into use!"
One son, Towny, began at the Whipple school, but soon protested: he claimed that the family cared "nothing about [your] mute children." He then refused to speak the "lip language," saying that he "prefers to talk on his hands" and "would never learn to talk--give it up wholly." As Towny explained, "I am perfectly disgusted with it, as I look ugly when I talk (the motion of the lips, I mean.)" Towny also knew that others wanted him to speak only for intrigue: for example, "Aunt Mary and others asked me to speak for them for curiosity but I refused. It seemed to me that she did not like me for giving up the attempt." And finally, Towny found voicing useless since he could not speech-read most strangers nor could they understand his voice. As he told his Deaf sister, "I bet you that you will not be able to read every invisible word spoken by certain strangers."
Towny's many passionate letters of explanation to his Deaf siblings give the historian some idea of how Deaf siblings supported each other in the 19th century. His protest is also a fascinating addition to the study of Deaf resistance to hearing oppression. What made his resistance possible? Certainly, because he had access to clear communication with his Deaf siblings while he was coming of age, the young man grew up with cultural knowledge and self-confidence. Because his first language (learned from his older brothers, Deaf tutors, and later in residential schools) was ASL, spoken language seemed especially frustrating for him; he knew how easily he could communicate with a visual language.
Towny's older brothers worked with their non-signing father in a business with many illiterate hearing customers. Their difficulty communicating with them may have made the attempt to learn to speak seem more reasonable. This attitude was strengthened by their father, who felt that no one could "take charge of business... unless he can speak." The boys' father felt he could not "give up all things to my sons and they could go on and manage as well as I could" unless he could "know & hear them speak and read the lips understandingly." Only then would he "be willing and ready to die and feel I had done my duty to them." Like his older brothers, Towny's much-younger sister also did not fiercely resist oralism. But unlike them, she may have accepted oralist training because she never received the strong foundation in sign language that Towny and the older brothers did. Towny had the unique combination of support, self-esteem, age, and ASL fluency to allow his protest.
Wilhelm Gottweiss, being deaf, was an early active assistant and even became chairman of one of the oldest deaf-charities, the "Allgemeiner Unterstützungsverein 1847" with over 800 deaf members and the "Zentralverein 1848". As he was president of the 9th German Deaf-Mute-Congress in 1910, he held an important position. At that time, the "Zentralverein" owned three buildings whose benefit was for the deaf.
The city of Berlin was the first German town that provided a full-time office as secretary of the welfare office for the deaf, which Mr. Gottweiss held. During the 20s, there had been a great unemployment in Germany, that concerned many deaf, too. Mr. Gottweiss and the headmaster of the school, Mr. Schorsch, sincerely warned about the trouble Hitler made in Berlin.
Fritz Alberghs, being deaf, who came from Munich in Southern Germany, moved to Berlin 1922 caused by his marriage. He joined the Army for the 1st World War as a volunteer. From the beginning, he was a supporter of Hitler. Being in Berlin, he was at loggerheads with Mr. Gottweiss.
At the foundation-meeting of the "Reichsverband der Gehörlosen Deutschlands" (REGEDE) in 1927 at Weimar, Fritz Albreghs was elected as chairman. He took part in the 1st meeting of the "International league to preserve the rights of the deaf worldwide" (precursor of the World federation of the Deaf) in 1928 at Prague. He was elected for chairman again. Then he had to leave Prague due to his Nazi-activities. He was removed from being chairman of "REGEDE" and dismissed without notice from the editor office at the "Deutsche Gehörlosen-Zeitung".
In 1931 Albreghs joined the NSDAP and together with 8 other deaf founded the deaf SA-group and the NSDAP-Kreisbund he was responsible for. Until 1933, the number of deaf involved in the NSDAP increased up to 200. After the Nazis gained power, he became chairman of "REGEDE" again. After Hitler's forcing into line, about 40 Berlin deaf-clubs and every other German deaf-club were conformed. Their possessions and those of the "Zentralverein" and its buildings were confiscated by the 35th Gaubund.
Mr. Gottweiss lost his many years standing chairmanship and his job at the welfare office. He was denounced by the Gehörlosen-Zeitung. In 1934, it twice published about Gottweiss' wife not having paid her fee for the NSDAP party. She was no longer allowed to attend the deaf club and got a ban on entering the house.
Albreghs got unlimited power. With the joining of the REGEDE in the NSDAP-Volkswohlfahrtspartei, all deaf in Germany became overnight involuntary members of the Hitler party. He supported the politics of health of the compulsory sterilisation. He wrote tirades of hatred in deaf magazines against deaf Jews and deaf opponents.
Gottweiss privately helped a deaf Jew, Max Milet, to get a job. Milet and his deaf brother survived the Nazi terror. His deaf father and two other deaf brothers were killed. In 1942, Gottweiss died.
In 1942, Albreghs got dismissed and his successors were K. H. Brunner (Vienna, Austria) and in 1943 Karl Engelmann (Munich). In 1945, Albreghs disappeared without trace. From 1945 - 1947, there were contradictory statements concerning his death.
The presentation introduces Svante Lagergren and his work connecting it to the Finnish photographic history. Furthermore it is possible to see a good collection of most important sights of Finland, because slides are shown during the presentation.
How did he become such an important sculptor and artist in California? He graduated from the arts-oriented California School for the Deaf at Berkeley in 1879; after teaching at the California School for the Deaf at Berkeley for some years, his sculpting career finally began in San Francisco in 1883, and in 1888 he left America to study sculpture in Paris. In due course, he had a statue, "The Baseball Player," accepted by the famous Salon des Artistes Francais on the Champs Elysses in 1889. This is no small achievement, as very few foreigners were accepted to this Salon. This particular statue can be seen in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Even though he studied in Paris in the Beaux-Arts tradition and carried on an European stylistic influence, he was very "American" in his subject matter and expression, as he did statues of sports figures, bears, Indians, and miners, among others. He developed an artistic style with a "truly American spirit."
When he returned to Berkeley, CA after six years in Europe, he became very involved in San Francisco's beautification and development project, and created works of art connected to California's history and stories. His success in Europe helped him become California's primary sculptor of statues, fountains, and public monuments, many of which survived the earthquake and fire of 1906. He also became the first teacher of sculpture at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art; as a professor at the Far West's earliest academy of fine arts, he taught a number of students who eventually became important sculptors.
Tilden is the perfect example of a blend of international artistic expression-- European and American--and his art lives on. To this very day, his statues are prominently displayed in San Francisco (along Market Street and in Golden Gate Park), the University of California at Berkeley , several museums, and the California School for the Deaf at Fremont.
The best etchings and oil-paintings by the deaf painters K. Gampeln, I. Bogdanov, A. Stepanov, A. Egorov, E. Stolitsa and others can be seen in Russian picture- galleries. At that time many deaf painters were public-spirited persons. The report contains new information about the deaf painters.
Roberto Pradez was deaf from birth. His lack of hearing and his poor speech barred him from other occupations, and for this reason he turned to the study of art. His early successes were notable: He was awarded a scholarship from the king to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and while there he took first prize in an engraving competition. Eventually, however, he left the Academy to apply for a position as art teacher at the newly founded Royal School for Deaf Mutes. Recognizing the "conformity of organization" that existed between Pradez and his future students as a distinct advantage, the board of directors hired him gladly. For Pradez, then, deafness provided the catalyst that propelled him to the study of art, and it opened the door to a successful career as art teacher at the Royal School.
Francisco Goya was born hearing, but when he was forty-six, a mysterious illness left him totally deaf. This turn of events isolated him from his fellows and plunged him into depression. For Goya, then, the loss of hearing was a tragedy. Even so, the dark cloud had a silver lining, for the onset of deafness brought to his art a new depth and seriousness. The paintings from his later years are regarded as harbingers of modern art, which capture the despair of our modern age.
He published his writings on education of the deaf in professional magazines in Nordic countries, France and USA, and made a political effort that led to the obligatory schooling of the deaf in Norway. He was decorated to Honorary Master of arts at the Gallaudet College in Washington, for his contribution.
In the Deaf society this is what he is foremost known for. However, he was also interested in political and economical questions and wrote about it in the daily press and in magazines. This is what I will focus on in my paper.
He was early Johan Sverdrup's private secretary. Sverdrup was the president of the parliament and brought parliamentarism to Norway. Havstad published "The speeches of Sverdrup in parliament 1851 - 1881". But he was also interested in the architecture of the capitol city and he wrote about it in the daily press. Havstad was oriented towards the Anglo-French influence, and against the German influence of the time. When Norway parted with Sweden in 1905, he wrote in cooperation with H. L. Br&alig;kstad, in the British press, defending the position of Norway.
He delivered a paper about the census of 1661, to the academy of Science, he wrote a handbook for readers of newspaper (1899), was for a period editor of the left party newspaper, Eidsvoll, and was working on a monograph on Sverdrup when Havstad was killed in a streetcar accident.
It was by the usage of the pen Havstad was able to be heard, because as a deaf person he had a voice that was difficult to understand. However, he used sign when communicating.
Since 1929, several individual deaf film makers such as Ernest Marshall, Chester Beers, Andrew Fugler, Peter Wolf, and others have produced sign language films with deaf actors and presented them to the Deaf community. Most deaf people today have no knowledge of these films. This presentation will show some film clips from these movies and discuss their contributions and problems.
Dmitry Smetanin (1928-1962) became deaf during the evacuation due to the war. He finished the school for hard-of-hearing children with a silver medal. Graduated from Geographical Faculty and post-graduate course of Moscow State University. At the age of 28 he defended a candidate thesis. He was also the chief of the hydrochemical group on the expedition ship Vityaz of Science Academy of USSR. In the area of the small islands Horwall in Pacific Ocean where there were tests of H-bomb he got an extra dose of radiation and later he died due to brain swelling. His great achievements in the science were awarded in USA. After his death he left many works on the topic of oceanology; many students still remember him.
Victor Fleri was first a teacher and then the director of St. Petersburg school for the Deaf. "Deaf Mutes" is written with deep respect for Deaf people and their sign language. The author is absolutely convinced that deafness does not impede people's capacity for intellectual and moral development, for education and creative activity, for science, art, etc.
V. Fleri speaks about specific Deaf people, admires their talents and moral qualities.
A number of chapters in the book are devoted to an analysis of sign language. The author describes two types of communication: Russian Sign Language (RSL) and signed Russian, he analyses the linguistic structure of RSL, and underlines particular features of vocabulary and grammar.
V. Fleri treats RSL as the natural language of the deaf child and thinks that education should be started with the help of RSL.
He views the use of signed Russian sceptically and mentions that Deaf adults dot not use it in interpersonal communication.
The book discusses the issues of sign language interpreting. The author thinks that RSL should be used for interpreting. The book includes an RSL glossary. The authors discuss the issue why the book has been underestimated over the last hundred years.
The main purpose of the project is that one, by use of a multimedia program, can be able to retrieve information of Deaf history and culture in the European countries. The program will contain interesting information for the deaf and other target groups that are interested to know more about the situation of the deaf, historical sites, schools, services, deaf clubs, and sign language among other things in the different countries.
The content will be presented in a way that makes it available for e.g. the deaf, for instance through text, picture and sign language. This information will also be combined with a homepage on Internet providing actual information on activities, conferences, addresses, phone and fax numbers, opening hours, and so on...
We have now received the money to make a prototype, which in July -
97 will be presented to a group in the EU. If this group thinks well of
our work, we might receive more money, which enables us to continue our
work and make a "proper" production where we can "travel" and retrieve
information and knowledge about deaf in all of Europe.