Lippitt House Museum American Sign Language Tour and History of Deaf Education
Mary Ann Balch Lippitt (1823-1889) and her daughter Jeanie (1852-1940), who became deaf at age four, were early advocates for equal access to education for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. At a time when many believed children who could not hear or speak were incapable of learning, they believed that it was the responsibility of the state to provide accessible public education for deaf children.
In 1876, Mary Ann Lippitt founded the Providence Day School for the Deaf, which transferred operations to the state of Rhode Island in April 1877 with the support of then Governor Henry Lippitt. Today, the school is The Rhode Island School for the Deaf and is a bilingual/bimodal school, honoring both ASL and English.
Jeanie Lippitt as a girl, 1860s. Jeanie’s proficiency in lipreading helped make the case for the oralism method of instruction for deaf children in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
To learn more about Mary Ann and Jeanie’s role in the early history of deaf education, as well as the evolution of deaf education and the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, read the Museum’s blog series: The Lippitts and the History of Equal Rights for Deaf Education.
American Sign Language Video Tour
To honor the legacy of access for education for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, this series of tour videos make the Lippitt House Museum accessible to ASL (American Sign Language) speakers. Presented by native ASL speakers, the tour offers the same quality and complexity as the museum’s traditional docent-led tours. Each room (as identified in the floor plan) features several videos highlighting different aspects of the room, along with stories about the family and servants who lived and worked in the house. The videos are accessed on museum tablets or on visitors’ cell phones with the option to select videos for each room, based on individual’s interests.
The ASL video tour draws inspiration from Jeanie Lippitt who became deaf following scarlet fever at age four. Jeanie and her mother Mary Ann Balch Lippitt were instrumental in establishing the Rhode Island School for the Deaf.
The project was funded by a grant from the Paul V. Sherlock Center for Disabilities at Rhode Island College.
Start the playlist of video tours below
ASL 1.1 Outside Providence's Beginning
ASL 1.2 Outside Lippitt Wealth
ASL 1.3 Outside Architecture and Power
ASL 1.4 Outside Lippitt Family
ASL 2.1 Hallway Victorian Separation
ASL 2.2 Hallway History of Wealth
ASL 2.3 Hallway Mirror Hallstand
