History Through Deaf Eyes Exhibition Team

Students from the St. Rita’s School for the Deaf. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1918.

Photograph by J.B. Schmidt.

National Archives, Image: 165-WW-77E-3.

Curator and Exhibition Team

Curator: Jack R. Gannon

Project Director: Jean Lindquist Bergey

Exhibition Design: Hank Grasso Planning & Design, Inc.

Design Consultant: Rosalyn L. Gannon

Researcher/Contributor: Douglas C. Baynton, Ph.D.

Researcher/Curatorial Advisor: Michael J. Olson

Image Archive Manager: Geraldine M. Frank

Film/DVD Producer: Sandy White

Exhibition Website Designer (2004): Shelby Jia

Deaf Eyes Project Digital Outreach Manager: Shane Dundas

History Through Deaf Eyes is managed by the National Deaf Life Museum at Gallaudet University. For further information, please contact us.

About the Project

Gallaudet University created the “Deaf Eyes” project to bring deaf history to the public and expand understanding of U.S. history. The project is multi-faceted and includes the:

• Exhibition – History Through Deaf Eyes
• Documentary Film – Through Deaf Eyes
• Book – Through Deaf Eyes: A Photographic History of an American Community
• DVD shown within the exhibition: By Necessity and By Choice: How We Communicate

Gallaudet University produced the exhibition, book, poster series, and this website.

About the Documentary

The two-hour PBS documentary film, Through Deaf Eyes, is a production of WETA Washington, D.C. and Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. in association with Gallaudet University.

Created by Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey, the film aligns the broad sweep of U.S. history with the experiences of deaf people, showing how major social, economic, and technological shifts in America have changed deaf lives. It is propelled by the stories of people both eminent and ordinary and conveys a broad range of perspectives on what it means to be deaf.

Narrated by Stockard Channing, the film presents the story of deaf life in America—a story of conflicts, prejudice and affirmation that reaches the heart of what it means to be human. A deaf cinematic lens is brought to the documentary by six contributing filmmakers: Wayne Betts, Jr., Kimby Caplan, Arthur Luhn, Adrean Mangiardi, Tracey Salaway, and Rene Visco.

Major funding for the documentary was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, The Annenberg Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding was provided by Sign Language Associates, and Richard and Gail Elden.

History Through Deaf Eyes was made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and generous support from:

• The Motorola Foundation
• The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
• The Rockefeller Foundation
• SBC Foundation
• BFGoodrich Foundation