The collection includes departmental and research notes, reports, and summaries created as part of the work done by the Department of Personnel and Research between 1932 and 1943. Because reports include sensitive information about individual students and include identifiable information, the collection is restricted to protect student privacy.
1.5 linear feet, 3 document boxes
Susanna Coit, 2019
In the 1932 Annual Report, Perkins School for the Blind announced that the Department of Applied Psychology, speech correction work, and the Department of Experimental Studies would be merged to create the Department of Personnel and Research. Directed by Kathryn E. Maxfield, the department was the first of its kind in any school for the blind. The aim was to coordinate “all the means of dealing with the individual child who needs special attention” (The Lantern, Sept. 1932). This work included psychological testing, corrective work, and monitoring physical and mental health of students. A 1932 article in The Lantern notes that the department “will have available all modern resources for dealing with” children needed their services. The function of the department is explained in the same article: “…to test the mental capabilities, building on all that has been done in the past by this department of psychology; …to adjust physical or mental maladjustment, extending correcting work of the past; …to guide into the largest usefulness according to the aptitudes revealed or developed.” In 1939, Dr. Samuel P. Hayes became the director of the Department and continued its work. The Department’s organization varied over the years until it was restructured as a small committee in 1951-1952.
One Hundred and First Annual Report of Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind, Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind, Watertown, MA. 1932. (The 1932 Annual Report is available on the Internet Archive.)
One Hundred and Twenty-first Annual Report of Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind, Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind, Watertown, MA. 1952. (The 1952 Annual Report is available on the Internet Archive.)
This collection is restricted due to student privacy concerns.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Perkins School for the Blind, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
AG131 Department of Personnel and Research Records. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.
The collection documents the activities of the Department of Personnel and Research at Perkins School for the Blind between its creation in 1932 and 1943. Included in the records are medical and progress reports and notes about individual students, departmental reports, meeting and conference notes, and research reports and summaries. Departmental reports come from Medical, Health, Speech Correction, Physiotherapy, Psychometrist, and the overall Personnel and Research. Reports and notes include sensitive information about students.
B1:F1 = Box 1: Folder 1
2 Series, 3 boxes arranged chronologically when possible
Learn more about our collections, including digitized materials, and resources related to the history of Perkins School for the Blind and the history of education for people with blindness or deafblindness.