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OC T 2 8 1r:i".l, Northwestern Uni v ers ity Li brary No. 4 _..,. 1347 T H E W O P. K S P P. 0 G R A M - - - - .. - ~ -• Works Progress Airninistration -- For release in morning newspapers, Monday, October 19, 1936. WPA Workers Complete 45,000 Braille Maps for Free Distribution to Schools for the Blind Forty-five thousand Braille maps, including the fir~t ever made to teeDh history, are now being distributed by the Works Pro~~ess Administration to 78 schools for the blind, Mrs. Ellen S. Woodward, As s istant Administrator in charge of Women's and Professional Projects, announced today. The maps, illustrating imp ortant p~riods in history, are oupplemented by up-to-date geographicA.l maps of every State in the Nation and every country int.he world. They were pr~duced at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, Watertown, M~ss., as a Works Progress Administration project. 11 Historical map s for the blind have, heretofore, been unobtainable and. the sum total of paper maps in Braille from all sources, including England, has beea small, 11 Dr, Gabriel Farrell, director of the Perkins Ins ti tut ion and the WP.A project explained. The new maps are rnn.de of pri.per as wooden mn.ps, the old type, were r,und too expensive and bulky for schonlroorn use. The modern map-making process was devel~ped at the Institution especi~lly Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY No. 4 -- 1347 - 2 - for this project through perfection of two inventions to improve embossing methods. Forty-four workers, ten of whom are bl.ind, are employed on the project. The maps are printed on heavy white paper. In preparing the sets, which are distributed to schools in lots of 400 each, the workers first prepare thre e simple types. with dots and dashes to indicate boundaries. The first is an outline map The second is a physical map with masses of large raised dots to indicate mount~ins nnd masses of tiny dots to show bodies of w11ter. The third is a political map with capitols symbolized by ln.rge dots with rings around them a.nd other cities by smaller dots, By running their fingers repeatedly over maps of their home city, blind children at the Ferkins Institution have visualized the routes and points of interest so successfully as to instruct the guides who were leading thorn. Dr. Farrell attributed the success of the project in lnrge me;:,.sure to the experience of Frank C. Bryan, manager of the Howe Memorial Press, which is a part of the Perkins Institution, and the co-operation of a trained faculty. When the map-making project ends, WP.A. workers at Perkins Institution will be employed in making models, appliances and diagrams to instruct the blind in architecture and the sciences. 0 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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