With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Helen Keller
Journalism/Non-Fiction
1880 – 1968
Pioneer and activist in disability rights, suffrage movement, and other social issues. Keller was also a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union.
- Biography/Description of Work
Helen Keller was deaf and blind from the age of 19 months, possibly because of rubella or scarlet fever. She nonetheless studied at Radcliffe and in 1904 became the first deaf-blind person to earn a BA cum laude, a feat made possible with the help of Anne Sullivan who read everything and then signed into Helen’s hand. Anne stayed with Helen until her death in 1936, when Polly Thomson assumed the role. At Radcliffe Keller began a writing career, publishing her autobiography, “The Story of My Life” in 1903. Over the next several years, Keller wrote magazine article on women’s issues, and in the 1920s began working for humanitarian causes. She moved into a house in Easton she named Arcan Ridge in 1936, living there, and after a fire in a near reproduction on the same site, Arcan Ridge II, until her death.
- Sources view
- Lehman, Eric D. and Amy Nawrocki. 2014 Literary Connecticut. Charleston: The History Press.
[ http://www.afb.org/info/about-us/helen-keller/biography-and-chronology/biography/1235 ]
ConnecticutHistory.org[ http://connecticuthistory.org/helen-keller-in-connecticut-the-last-years-of-a-legendary-crusader/ ]
CT Womens Hall of Fame. [ http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/reformers/helen-keller#.Vcoq5vlVhuA ]
Lehman, Eric D. and Amy Nawrocki. 2014 Literary Connecticut. Charleston: The History Press.
Roth, Matthew and Bruce Clouette. 1991. Aspetuck NR Historic District Nomination No. 91000437. National Park Service. - Associated Resource(s)