Rare photo of Helen Keller found.

[MA-Caver]

Helen Keller Holds Doll in Newfound Photo
Melissa Trijillo, Associated Press
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/03/06/helen-keller-photo.html
March 6, 2008 -- Researchers have uncovered a rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod. The photograph, shot in July 1888 in Brewster, shows an 8-year-old Helen sitting outside in a light-colored dress, holding Sullivan's hand and cradling one of her beloved dolls.

Experts on Keller's life believe it could be the earliest photo of the two women together and the only one showing the blind and deaf child with a doll -- the first word Sullivan spelled for Keller after they met in 1887 -- according to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which now has the photo.

"It's really one of the best images I've seen in a long, long time," said Helen Selsdon, an archivist at the American Foundation for the Blind, where Keller worked for more than 40 years. "This is just a huge visual addition to the history of Helen and Annie."

For more than a century, the photograph has belonged to the family of Thaxter Spencer, an 87-year-old man in Waltham.

Remarkable what can happen when one goes through their family's archives.
Keller and Sullivan broke the stigma that many like Helen suffered. They showed people that those who have a severe disability like deaf/blindness can still strive to learn and then later go on to be great humanitarians and authors.
Remarkable that the photo is in great shape.

 

[shesulsa]

Wow! What a find!

 

[Carol]

An amazing find.

A few years ago I visited the museum at the Perkins School for the Blind, which is near Boston.

Something that I didn't realize...or had forgotten...was that Anne Sullivan herself was legally blind!

The two were astounding people.

 

[arnisador]

I saw that in the paper--yes, a great find!

 

[Brian Johns]

I saw that yesterday as well and was amazed at the quality of the photograph. What an amazing find and more importantly, how amazing these two women were !

 

[terryl965]

Very great find and the photo is in great shape.