Deaf Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America

Chapter 11. Publications of the Deaf

• The 'Silent' Press Levi S. Backus (b. 1803) is credited with being the originator of what eventually became known as the silent press. The word "silent" was a popular term used to describe newspapers and magazines published in the interests of deaf people in the early part of the century but it has since lost its popularity. Backus was a product of the American School for the Deaf, where he studied for five years and was a pupil of Laurent Cl~rc. Backus became editor and proprietor of the Canajoharie (N.Y.) Radii, a weekly newspaper printed in that city which was once the location of the Central New York Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. Backus had taught at that school. When it closed he acquiIed the RlIdii in 1837, becoming the first deaf editor of a newspaper on record in the country . The Radii's banner was in fingerspelling . Backus added a column consisting of news of interest to deaf persons in the community addressing, at least partiaUy , some of the needs of his deaf readers while continuing to serve the interests of the hearing population . In 1844 he was successful in persuading the New York State Legislature to appropriate some funds so that he could mail the Radii to "educated deaf people " throughout the state. Horace Greeley, writing in The New Yorker, described Backus' editorials as being "sententious and sensible, his selections judidous," and his newspaper , "every way respectable." When Backus' printing office burned down in 1846 he moved his printing plant to Fort Plain, New York TIIis leller led to the creation of the American Annals of the Deaf and the Radii was renamed the Montgomery County Phoenix. This name did not catch on, however, and it was later changed to the Radii alld Phoenix. On February 19, 1847, nine members of the faculty of the American Asylum for the Deaf wrote a letter to the school administration and the Board of Directors proposing the establishment of a quarterly periodical which would be "devoted to the discussion of topics relating to the Deaf and Dumb .. ." The group had investigated the costs of printing such a periodical and found that 1,000 copies of an average of 80 pages each could be printed four times a year at a cost of $488. The Board was receptive to the suggestion and shortly afterwards the America" Anllals of the Deaf was born. The Annals became the organ of the Conference of American Instructors of the Deaf and the Conference of Executives of American Schools for the Deaf. Today the Annals is the oldest journal devoted to the education of the deaf in the world and the oldest American educational journal in continuous publication since its inception, according to the Library of Congress. The Anllals was initially printed at the American School. (/t suspended publication in June 1861 on account of the Civil War and resumed publication in 1868 at the North Carolina Institution then located in Raleigh.) In 1860 TheGal/audet Guide and Deaf-Mutes' CompaniOll , the first periodical printed exclusively for deaf persons, began appearing monthly. It was edited by William M. Chamberlain and printed in Boston from 1860 to 1865. The banner of the Guide included pictures of Thomas Hopkins GaUaudet and Laurent Clerc. The newspaper proclaimed itself "An Independent AmtT.((lll School fur tht Dfg/ ;~ L.P'~~- IJt.-JJU ~(!a,.v ,,f!J~~ ~?~-... NEW YORK.- TBUBSDA1". l?)iepmBR s. 1920 - - ....__ fO-'· _..._---_..- .......... ._._-...~.._ .._a._ Mast head of the old Deaf-Mutes' Journal. Monthly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Deaf Mutes." It was the official organ of the New England Gallaudet Association of the Deaf. Sometime around 1870 Henry C. Rider acquired possession of Backus' Radii. A year later Rider began a column for deaf readers in the Mexico (N.Y.) Independellt . This column grew into a full page and Rider named it the Deaf-Mu tes' journal. With the state subsidy which he had also acquired from Backus, Rider began sending the newspaper to deaf persons throughout the state. In 1875 Rider started his own printing business and began printing the Deaf-Mutes' }oumal indepe.nden tly. The JOI/ mal became the first weekly newspaper of the deaf. Later the New York School for the Deaf took over publication of the newspaper with Edwin A. Hodgson, the school's printing instructor, as editor. Hodgson was editor from...