Beginning in April 2016, the Library Company will host Common Touch, a multimedia and sensory exhibition
curated by artist Teresa Jaynes. Generously funded by the Pew Center for Arts &
Heritage, the exhibition inspired by historical embossed and raised-letter
documents for the visually impaired will explore the nature of perception. The
following is a shared blog post from the CommonTouch website, where in anticipation of the forthcoming exhibition we have
been showcasing relevant items from our historical collections documenting the
blind and other communities with disabilities.
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Picture shows one woman and three men, seated next to each
other, and holding instruments. The woman holds an accordion in her lap and she
looks slightly down. To her left is a man, his eyes closed, who holds a viola
perpendicular to his lap with one hand and a bow in his other. To his left is a
man resting a cello between his legs. He holds a bow across the base of the
cello with his right hand. To his left is the last man, his eyes closed, who
holds a violin by his left shoulder and a raised bow in in his right hand. The
woman, as well as the man who holds a cello, wear glasses. The woman wears a
dark dash colored corseted dress with long sleeves and a long skirt. The men,
who look toward the viewer, are bearded and wear dark dash colored suits. [End of description]
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This circa 1866 carte-de-visite photograph of the musical
Hostetler family represents a thread in the seams of the complex history of the
representation of blind musicians in popular culture. Known in their local Fayette
County, Pennsylvania newspapers as the “Blind Family,” the Hostetler siblings
Catherine (1835-1890), Bartholomew (1845-1908), Jesse Samuel (1842-1923), and
John Hostetler (1829-1911) were five of eight children born to their parents
blind or visually impaired. The Hostetlers traveled throughout Western
Pennsylvania performing in churches, schoolhouses, and the like, and by the
early 1870s, were managed by their agent Prof. Buchinal.
The siblings appear to have received no formal music
training. Nonetheless, such instruction was often strongly advocated by
19th-century educators of the blind, like Samuel G. Howe. Howe, director of Perkins School for the
Blind in Massachusetts, strongly urged music education over handicrafts for his
students. In 1833 he wrote “The accuracy of the ear gives to blind persons a
very great advantage in music; they depend entirely upon it; …” This rationale supported
his stance that playing and teaching music necessarily provided the blind with
a more realizable livelihood based in excellence than handicrafts. For Howe,
the sighted could not help but excel in the latter trades, but not so in music.
With music and public performance as their profession, the
possibility of the Hostetlers’ exploitation cannot be overlooked. This most
respectfully posed portrait could still be seen as an object of curiosity at
the time it was taken as well as today. Did those who acquired the image want
it as a souvenir of the singing talents of the Hostetlers or the novelty of a
blind family of singers? Such questions
raised by the photograph cannot help but challenge the viewer about their
understanding of the role that music played in the education, portrayal, and
life of individuals who were blind in the 19th century.
Erika Piola
Associate Curator, Prints and Photographs
Co-Director, VCP at LCP
