Helen Selsdon has served as the archivist for the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) since 2002. She manages the Helen Keller Archive, the Talking Book Archive, the AFB Archive, and the M. C. Migel Rare Book collection. She serves as a grant writer and spokesperson for AFB’s historical collections.

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Save the Helen Keller Archives: Day 5

Welcome to this, our fifth day of our 8-day #BeAMiracleworker campaign. Every dollar we raise will be matched by the National Endowment for the Humanities. For a short time only, your gift of $10 will be worth $20, $25 will bring in $50 – you get the idea! We need to raise the money by this coming Wednesday, September 30th. Donate now and be a miracle worker. And don’t forget to follow the campaign’s progress on Facebook. In the Realm of the Senses "I can tell music from other vibrations by…

Save the Helen Keller Archives: Day 4

Welcome to the fourth day of our 8-day #BeAMiracleworker campaign. Every dollar we raise will be matched by the National Endowment for the Humanities. For a short time only, your gift of $10 will be worth $20, $25 will bring in $50 – you get the idea! But we need to raise this money by next Wednesday, September 30th. Donate now and be a miracle worker. And don’t forget to follow the campaign’s progress on Facebook. A Super Star! "Smile! Laughter makes even subdued personalities sparkle. No…

Save the Helen Keller Archives: Day 3

Welcome to the third day of our 8-day #BeAMiracleworker campaign. Yesterday we raised $6,124 which is absolutely wonderful! We are $5,919 away from our goal of $25,000 goal. With your help we can do this! We need to raise this money by next Wednesday, September 30th. Donate now be a miracle worker. And don’t forget to follow the campaign’s progress on Facebook. A Global Warrior "I believe that the welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of all" Keller traveled to 39 countries around the…
Author Helen Selsdon
Blog Topics Helen Keller

Save the Helen Keller Archives: Day 2

Welcome to the second day of our 8-day #BeAMiracleworker campaign. We are thrilled to report that our total has risen by $2,212 and we have reached $12,957. Please help us reach our $25,000 goal by September 30th. Every dollar we raise will be matched by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Donate now and be a miracle worker. And don’t forget to follow the campaign’s progress on Facebook. A Supreme Communicator "I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty and…

Save the Helen Keller Archives: Day 1

AFB’s 8-day fundraiser begins today. Every dollar we raise will be matched by the National Endowment for the Humanities. For a short time only, your gift of $10 will be worth $20, $25 will bring in $50 — you get the idea! But we need to raise this money by next Wednesday, September 30th. Donate now and donate generously. And don’t forget to follow the campaign’s progress on Facebook. In the Beginning... " "What induces a child to learn but his delight in knowing?" The words that you see…
Author Helen Selsdon
Blog Topics Helen Keller

Meeting Helen Keller

Helen Keller fought for the rights of war veterans for over 40 years. The Helen Keller Archival Collection contains photographs and documents testifying to the extraordinary impact she had on the personal and working lives of the men and women who served and fought in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. One such document is posted and transcribed here. Written 94 years ago today, the letter is signed by 30 ex-servicemen who were tuberculosis patients. It is a thank…

Helen Keller: An Artificial Eye

Hello to all those Helen Keller aficionados out there! For this week’s look Inside the Helen Keller Digitization project, I am posting a newly photographed item (left hand image above) — it’s the receipt for an artificial eye for Helen Keller. On the right hand side is a photograph of Helen taken at the Perkins School for the Blind, circa 1888. The receipt is a wonderfully quirky piece of ephemera that made me stop and think – how did Helen wish to be perceived by an adoring public? In…

Helen Keller: An Important Voice

Image: Inside pages from Helen Keller's passport issued December 1950, including headshot of Keller wearing a hat. This week on Inside the Helen Keller Digitization Project, University of California, Berkeley, English professor and author of Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller Georgina Kleege, describes her excitement at the prospect of gaining access to previously unavailable materials including transcripts of Keller's performances on the Vaudeville circuit, travel itineraries from her work…

Helen Keller and Talking Books: A 'Priceless Boon'

Image: Helen Keller with Robert Irwin, feeling the vibrations from the speaker of a Talking Book playback machine in the library of the American Foundation for the Blind, no date. Welcome back to Inside the Helen Keller Digitization Project. Did you know that the American Foundation for the Blind was instrumental in creating the first Talking Book audio recordings? Mara Mills, Assistant Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University has written this fascinating piece…

Helen Keller in Paris: Tourism, Nostalgia and Memory

Image: Helen Keller holds baguettes and stands next to Polly Thomson, 1952 This week’s blog for Inside the Helen Keller Digitization Project is a wonderful piece by David Serlin, associate professor of communication and science studies at the University of California, San Diego. Enjoy! One of my favorite objects in the Helen Keller Archives is this photograph of Keller and her secretary and companion Polly Thomson, taken in Paris in 1952. I discovered it, about five years ago, among a…