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New Keller Photo Surfaces

It may be the first image of her with teacher Anne Sullivan

By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 5, 2008 8:20 PM CST
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(Newser) – A rare photo of a young Helen Keller accompanied by teacher Anne Sullivan in 1888 has surfaced among a family collection donated to the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The photo, which was tucked away in an album, may be the first taken of the two and the only to show Keller with one of her beloved dolls, the AP reports.

"Doll" was the first word Sullivan spelled for the blind and deaf girl, which sparked her comprehension of language. "It just seemed like something no one would find very interesting," said Thaxter Spencer, who donated his family's albums unaware of the photo. Far from dull, the picture is "a huge visual addition to the history of Helen and Annie," one archivist said.

This 1888 photo released by the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston shows Helen Keller when she was 8 years old, holding hands with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, during a summer vacation to Brewster, Mass., on Cape Cod. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Thaxter P. Spencer Collection, R. Stanton Avery...
This 1888 photo released by the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston shows Helen Keller when she was 8 years old, holding hands with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, during a summer vacation...   (Associated Press)
Here, an older Keller holds open a braille book. An 1888 photo released by the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston shows Helen Keller when she was 8 years old holding hands with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, during a summer vacation to Brewster, Mass., on Cape Cod.
Here, an older Keller holds open a braille book. An 1888 photo released by the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston shows Helen Keller when she was 8 years old holding hands with her teacher,...   (Archive Photos)
Helen Keller
Helen Keller   (Getty Images)
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discoveries • photography • New England • blindness • archive • Cape Cod • deaf people • Helen Keller

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