Written & Unwritten Records from a Residential School for the Deaf in Rome

The history of the first school for the Deaf, founded 1784 in Rome by Abbot Tommaso Silvestri, a disciple of Abbé de I’Épée, has been reconstructed from writings by the founder and his successors that still exist in the school’s library and archives, and through memories collected from deaf people who attended the school at different periods-in particular through the history of three generations of the same family all attending the school. “Official” written history and “collective memories” of older generations of deaf people are contrasted.