In 1927, a blind Italian immigrant
founded National Braille Press. It began as "a seedlet of a dream" that blind
people should be able to read the newspaper. Here is his story, including a retelling in
his own words.
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"He who looks over his shoulder cannot see that which lies ahead."
-- Francis B. Ierardi
Francis B. Ierardi, born September 1, 1886, in Armento, Italy, migrated to this country with his family in 1887, settling in New York City.
On August 10, 1898, at the age of twelve, Francis lost his sight when a dynamite cap in a box of nails he was playing with exploded. After this accident, Francis sold newspapers to supplement the family income. In 1901 Francis persuaded his family to move to Boston so that he could attend the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts;
however, due to residency requirements he could not be admitted. Instead he took a job in a shoeshine parlor in Boston's South End.
During this period a gentleman customer to the shop became interested in Francis. This gentleman was Robert Brigham, a member of the Perkins Corporation, who interceded in Francis's behalf and arranged to have Francis admitted to Perkins School for the Blind.
After graduating from Perkins, Francis was able to obtain employment as a social worker for the Massachusetts State Division of the Blind. As a field worker he met many other people who were blind. It was this personal association that ultimately changed his life's purpose. He wrote about his feelings at the time.
"During the early days of World War I, when momentous things were taking place and world news was in the making, I realized for the first time how inadequate was the source of information for those who could not read daily newspapers or weekly reviews. The blind and deaf-blind were dependent upon others to keep them posted on what was going on about them. Naturally, this medium of information was colored with personal opinions, and the braille reader could not discuss topics of the day very intelligently.
"I wondered why someone could not sponsor a braille weekly newspaper. The seedlet of a dream was formed, in that year of 1918, of having a braille weekly newspaper for the blind. From 1918 to 1927 there was not the slightest hope of starting such a publication, for there was no money with which to finance the establishment of printing presses nor even for the purchase of paper stock.
"Approaching the Massachusetts Association for Promoting the Interests of the Adult Blind, in the hope of realizing the $500 minimum cost of starting such an experiment, I was told that this organization would provide $200 if I were able to interest another source of funds in the amount of $300. Our benefactress, Mrs. Homer Gage, made this $300 gift.
"Messrs. Christian Herter and Richard E. Danielson, then publishing the Independent Weekly, agreed to supply the carbon copy of The Week in Review. In this way, the first edition of our publication -- The Weekly News -- came out on March 17, 1927, before the inkprint copy was on the newsstands.
"At first this periodical was intended to be only statewide, but the demand became so great from readers in other states that after the experiment passed three months, it was decided to make it a national publication. Steady growth and increased reader interest eventually brought us international prominence throughout the English-speaking world.
"We started in the old Perkins Work Shop -- an old wooden building with but one exit at 549 East Fourth Street, South Boston. Volunteers, working evenings, produced the first issue of 200 copies, which were stitched by hand, collated, and rolled in paper. We had no mail bags, and by taxi we transported the magazine to the South Postal Annex in mattress ticking.
"Our initial small fund lasted but three months. The success of our beginning and the realization of the need for the publication led Perkins Institution for the Blind to grant us a gift of $1,000 to complete the year 1927.
"This was complete vindication of our hopes, for the late Dr. Edward Allen, then Director of Perkins, in his attempt to prevent me from facing disappointment, tried in every way to discourage the publishing of a weekly, pointing out that in Philadelphia they had found the brailling of a weekly impractical and were forced to discontinue the project. He suggested a monthly issue, but I felt that much of the purpose of our publication would be obliterated through a monthly printing of news items, and insisted that if we were to provide The Weekly News, it must be on a weekly and timely basis. Even today, this is the only periodical of its kind in this hemisphere."
Ierardi soon discovered that keeping the press alive was as formidable a task as giving it life. From 1927 to 1946, National Braille Press occupied six different buildings -- leaning on the generosity of such Boston institutions as the Women's Educational and Industrial Union and the Paulist Fathers -- before settling at its present location at 88 St. Stephen Street.
After almost four decades of leadership, Francis Ierardi retired from National Braille Press in 1965, whereafter he served as a consultant. He died in 1967.
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National Braille Press received this handsome award -- a crystal sculpture of a book -- from Literary Market Place (LMP). The LMP Awards are awarded annually
to publishers who have demonstrated "excellence and innovation" in the publishing
arena. Held at the United Nations in New York City, the event marked the first time a
braille publishing house received this prestigious award. |
