Rare 1888 Keller / Sullivan Photograph Comes to Light

A rare early photograph of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan has been discovered in Boston. A staff member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society found the 1888 photograph in a large photography collection recently donated to the Society by Thaxter Spencer. It is believed to be the earliest photograph of Keller and Sullivan together and is the only one known showing Keller with one of her dolls, which were important in her early education.

A worldwide celebrity and noted intellectual often named as one of the most admired women of the 20th century, Helen Keller was one of the great American radical socialists, an early feminist and eloquent champion of many progressive causes such as universal suffrage, birth control, and pacifism. She helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and was a longtime supporter of the American Foundation for the Blind. She was given the Presidential  Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson and is pictured on the Alabama State quarter (a coin, for those not familiar with American money).

She is best remembered today for the story of how she overcame profound deafness and blindness with the help of her teacher Sullivan. The story has been dramatized many times, perhaps most notably in the 1959 play and subsequent 1962 film "The Miracle Worker" starring Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft.

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Mike

Featured Comment by Damon: "Really a beautiful photo. And thanks for the write up. It's most intriguing and makes me want to read a good biography of Helen Keller. I'm afraid my knowledge of her stops at what they taught us in grade 5 or so. Any suggestions?"

Mike replies: I haven't read it, but her autobiography is well regarded.

Comments

[David]

Twenty bucks that's an Annie Leibowitz..

[michael]

AL? Nah.

A box of doughnuts says it's from the National Enquirer.

[Mike C.]

Interesting, the contrast between two beautifully toned photographs, the great Roy de Carava yesterday (I love the way that "...and Elvin" gets your attention on that blurred, hunched shape in the background), and this. Each is so distinctively of its time.

Is there a technical reason for that "nineteenth century" look? I don't mean the sepia toning, I mean the distinctive richness of the dark tones, and the delicacy of the light tones -- they're so rarely just grey, those old photographs. It's as if they lived under a different sun, in those days...

[John Roberts]

It's an OK photo, but the colors need a little more "pop".

[Hugh Crawford]

Is there a technical reason for that "nineteenth century" look?

The nineteenth century negatives that I have seen are pretty darn dense with plenty of shadow detail.

Also the printing out paper they used has a self masking property where the shadow areas in the print get less sensitive as they get darker.

Combine the two qualities and you have a system where if you over expose the negative then overexpose the print until you get some highlight detail, everything works and you get those creamy highlights and rich detailed dark tones that never quite get to black

[Carl Leonardi]

Hugh & Mike C. I believe the film plates back then were only blue and green sensitive with probably some ultra violet light sensitivity thrown in and pyro developer may have been used.
Also lenses had a little more internal flair giving you that creamy look. If it were a cloudy day that would also help the look.
This photo is a classic beauty, all the elements work. Notice the clenched hand, probably not sure what was going on.