Founders.
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Although not much is known about the modest and retiring Dr. John Dix Fisher, he is one of the more influential reformers of 19th-century Boston. A physician who made great contributions to the understanding of smallpox and other contagious diseases, he helped found notable institutions in Boston including the Massachusetts General Hospital, the American Statistical Association, and, most importantly for this story, the Perkins School for the Blind.

It was Dr. Fisher who conceived the idea of starting a school in the United States for children who were blind. While he was in medical school, Fisher studied in Paris where he visited The National Institution for Blind Youth. He was very moved by what he saw, and determined that his own fine city of Boston would also house such a school. He must have been very persuasive, for he soon gathered the support of many of the most prominent figures of early nineteenth century Boston Society. William Prescott, a blind historian, Colonel Thomas H. Perkins, a well known China Trade merchant, Edward Brookes, Horace Mann, and members of the Thorndike and Lowell families were included. This group persuaded the Massachusetts legislature to sign an act incorporating the New England Asylum for the Blind on March 2, 1829.

For more than two years the trustees searched for someone to direct the new school. Thomas Gallaudet and many other prominent figures turned them down. Folklore at Perkins has it that, in the summer of 1831, Dr. Fisher was walking on Boylston Street with two other trustees when he encountered his college friend, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe. “The very man we have been looking for!” Dr. Fisher exclaimed. While the actual circumstances may have been less theatrical, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe was just the kind of man they were seeking.

A study in contrasts, Fisher and Howe had studied together at Brown University and at Harvard Medical School. Fisher was soft-spoken and studious; Howe was a handsome extrovert who rode an exquisite black stallion on the city streets of Boston. While Fisher studied in Europe, Howe joined the freedom fighters in Greece. John Dix Fisher had a vision of making Boston a more compassionate city; Samuel Gridley Howe was seeking a way to make his mark on the world. Together these men began a venture that changed the lives of countless people who were blind.

Upon accepting the position, Howe set off, in the autumn of 1831, to visit schools in Europe to study their techniques. He later said he “found in all much to admire and to copy, but much also to avoid.” Nearly all European schools fell into one of two camps: some emphasized industrial education, while others taught academic skills exclusively. Howe realized the necessity to integrate these approaches and teach the whole child. The Perkins approach to education would give students both the ability to think and the skills to support themselves with the goal of turning out independent, productive, well-educated members of society.

Howe returned, in the summer of 1832, with many ideas and two teachers, one from Edinburgh and another from Paris. He selected seven students and opened his school in several rooms in his father’s house. With few teaching materials and only three raised print books from England, he soon began devising his own materials. Within a few months his students were making remarkable progress, but the school was in debt. Realizing the need for publicity, Howe set aside his misgivings about making a show of his pupils’ skills and organized a demonstration before the Massachusetts legislature, which allocated money for the school. With funding, the institution grew rapidly and soon required new quarters.

Trustee Thomas Handasyd Perkins offered to loan his mansion on Pearl Street in Boston, provided the school could raise matching funds. This established the school’s tradition of soliciting private donations to supplement public support, a funding practice that has served the school well throughout its history.

Within six years, the house on Pearl Street was overflowing with 60 eager young students, and many more were on a waiting list. Col. Perkins allowed the school to sell his mansion and purchase an old hotel. In 1839, the school moved to the South Boston location, where it remained for the next 73 years. As a tribute to Col. Perkins’s generosity, the Board of Trustees renamed the school Perkins Institution for the Blind, and it has proudly borne his name ever since.

Suggested citation for scholars:

McGinnity, B.L., Seymour-Ford, J. and Andries, K.J. (2004) Founders.. Perkins History Museum, Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA.