During the National Federation of the Blind Virtual Experience, Melissa Riccobono was interview by our museum staff and described some of the artifacts that may be included in the Museum of the Blind People's Movement.
This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Nichole Chrissis, who is the archivist for the National Federation of the Blind, and Alison Tyler, who is the Project Lead of our museum. And they are going to talk with me about artifacts that are possibly going to be in the Museum.
And I explained those artifacts. I got to touch them. That was super cool. So, you will hear my unscripted reactions about being able to touch these really cool artifacts, and then they are going to talk about how you get involved as listeners and, you know, what the museum will have, what types of items the museum might be. It's just going to be a wonderful interview.
SPEAKER: Hello, everyone, this is Melissa Riccobono, and I am here in the Newel Perry conference room at the Jacobus tenBroek library at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, yes, that is a mouthful.
I'm here with two lovely ladies who have a lot to do with our Museum of the Blind People's Movement. So lovely ladies... why don't you introduce yourself and what you do here with the National Federation of the Blind?
NICHOLE: Hi, I'm Nichole Chrissis, the archivist here at the National Federation of the Blind, and I primarily work in the Jacobus tenBroek Library and help preserve the Federation's history.
MELISSA: What a super cool fun job you have. A quick story about Nichole, I went to lunch with Nichole pretty much right before the pandemic, right? That's when you were hired. Is that?
NICHOLE: Yeah, the week that the world shut down, I think we went to lunch, you, me, and President Riccobono.
MELISSA: And then didn't see you again in person for years (chuckling)...
NICHOLE: The whole time my phone was blowing up, and NFB cancel season, NFL cancel season.
MELISSA: So interesting. So I've known Nichole for a while. I don't know this other woman nearly as well, but why don't you introduce yourself?
ALISON: Hi, Federationists, my name is Alison Tyler, the Museum Project Lead working on the Museum of the Blind People's Movement at the NFB. And Melissa noted, I'm relatively new. I just had my one-year anniversary here at the NFB.
MELISSA: Happy anniversary!
ALISON: Thank you.
MELISSA: What did you do before you came to NFB? I guess you have a background in museums.
ALISON: Exactly. I previously worked in museums on the education and programs side, and most recently I have been working in nonprofits, and recently I was the COO of an education nonprofit in Rochester, New York.
MELISSA: Wow! That's like perfect synergy for you, museums and nonprofit together. That must have been pretty cool to see the job description.
ALISON: Yes, it's a dream opportunity for me, thrilled to be here.
MELISSA: Nichole, I am guessing you were an archivist before you came to NFB. NICHOLE: Not quite archives but I was working in collections prior.
MELISSA: And not bill collections?
NICHOLE: Museum collections. I was at a museum in Dayton, Ohio before coming to the Federation.
MELISSA: Welcome and I'm glad to bring you both to our listeners. I'm guessing these are voices and people that a lot of listeners have ever heard or met before.
Welcome! I have the opportunity to look at and touch actual artifacts that may go in the museum one day. So I'm just going to get started. I have this book, and it is actually raised print, capital letters, it looks like. It looks like K N E A S S? F... hmm? H? No, that would be weird... (laughing)
NICHOLE: You might be on the right track.
MELISSA: F H I L A D E L P H A. I have no idea... Nichole, what am I feeling here? What is this?
NICHOLE: You are currently looking at an artifact that is the Kneass’ Philadelphia Magazine for the Blind.
MELISSA: Oh, it's a P! It's not an F! It's a P for Philadelphia! Of course! (laughing) Oh, and that's an M. Oh, my gosh! I'm just saying I'm so glad we now have Braille, because I would really have to get used to reading this raised print. Maybe if I got really good it would be as fast as Braille... now that I know what it says... okay, yeah, of course "for the blind."
It is so interesting. It has a tactile box basically around the title. This magazine is maybe... oh, goodness... a half inch thick, if that. Oh, my gosh! And the raised print inside is tiny. How do people read this? "Of the blind" I just found. But seriously... and the pages, you can only have print on one side.
And so this thing is what... one, two, three, four, five... six, seven, eight, nine... ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen pages. Plus the back cover. So, my gosh... how much is in this? Is this one article? I mean, they're saying it's a magazine. But how much could you really get in this type of thing?
NICHOLE: I think there are a few articles in there. I don't have a list of everything exactly, but you can imagine why we went away from using raised print.
MELISSA: I can't even... oh, my gosh. This is so... this is just fascinating. I've never touched anything quite like this. So with this artifact and the others we're going to look at... how did we acquire them?
NICHOLE: So most of the things in the Federation's collections were either acquired through donations of members or people that have just gotten objects related to the field of blindness over time, or a good amount also come from our state affiliates, where we expect them to submit things that they produce that are related to the Federation's institutional activities.
Occasionally we might also purchase something in terms of acquisitions, but primarily the tenBroek Library relies on donations of artifacts from supporters.
MELISSA: Wow! And how old this is magazine? Do we know?
NICHOLE: Yes, we do.
MELISSA: I bet it has a date.
NICHOLE: That is one of the things that is so great is when objects are already dated. This one is actually from 1889.
MELISSA: Wow! Oh, my gosh, so I am actually touching an artifact from 1889.
NICHOLE: Yes.
MELISSA: Wow! Do we know who donated this or no?
NICHOLE: Not currently.
MELISSA: Got it. Oh, my gosh. Just think it probably sat in somebody's house maybe or... who knows where it was. 1889. That is just amazing. And I'm guessing the purpose for this one was just to give the blind the news to have day, right? That's what it was for?
NICHOLE: It was a magazine meant for communication just like any magazine would be today, giving information to people.
MELISSA: Hmm. Wow!
NICHOLE: I will also note that while this artifact is from 1889, raised print was actually being produced since the late 1700s.
MELISSA: So might be older.
NICHOLE: There might be older examples.
MELISSA: Do you know how it was produced, what they used? Because it just seems like that would be kind of advanced technology.
NICHOLE: It's kind of wild in the early days. In Paris they were using embossed plates and wet paper, and, you know, putting the paper over the plates, applying pressure. And then letting it dry.
MELISSA: So each page would have to have its own plate just like it did with thermoform paper back in day?
NICHOLE: Yeah. Almost just like with printing presses being used at the time, too, having the letters, each individually assembled.
MELISSA: Okay. I am so glad we don't do raised print. And not only was it hard to read, you couldn't write with it. Because of course you wouldn't have a plate, a way to make those plates to then write back anything to anybody, so... thank goodness for Louis Braille.
That's pretty cool. Anything you want the listeners to know about this article?
NICHOLE: I don't think so.
MELISSA: Thank you. Yet I'm sliding yet another book across the table. And this is a book in moon type. On the book it has small paper, rectangular paper that has the moon type alphabet. These are symbols. So the A is basically a triangle without the bottom part, and the B kind of looks like a backwards J in print.
The C looks pretty much the same as print. The D is backwards of the print C. The E is a line with... like a half a square with the right side and the bottom missing. This is fascinating. I have never looked at the moon type alphabet. Oh, the J looks like the J and the I looks like the I and the L looks like the L.
And N sort of looks like an N. The O looks like an O. Wow! Are these numbers then? Because there's more than... there is more than 26 symbols. So do we know what is on the bottom?
NICHOLE: It's punctuation and then a few select contractions.
MELISSA: They did have contractions in moon type I'm going to look at this, putting the card aside Once again I would have to study the alphabet very closely before I could read it, but it is all in moon type.
This one is much thicker. This is two to three inches thick, many more pages. What artifact is this?
NICHOLE: This is another magazine. This is "The Moon Magazine." And this is actually from the year 1990. So it is quite a bit more recent.
MELISSA: Oh, my gosh... I had no idea!
NICHOLE: Moon type was invented in 1845 and though it never really reached the popularity of other writing systems like Braille or New York Point, it did continue through the 20th and 21st centuries.
MELISSA: So you can still find moon type publications somewhere maybe?
NICHOLE: Yes, in the archive we have some slate styluses that are specifically to be used to write in moon.
MELISSA: That is fascinating! I never knew you could write in moon as well!
NICHOLE: As you can imagine, it's harder to produce than just Braille.
MELISSA: How is this produced? How do you think in the '90s this was produced?
NICHOLE: It's stamped as well, but the mechanism of it almost looks more like a hole punch and you... or like a label maker embosser, where you can turn the dial to have the different letters. And then press it into the paper.
MELISSA: So this would take a long time to make a magazine like this. Again, it is all single sided. Is this, again, stories or something. Do we know what is in this magazine or is it just communication?
NICHOLE: I'm not quite sure. I have not taken the time to translate it.
MELISSA: Anybody that reads moon type, come on over (laughing). We need a translation.
NICHOLE: We have a project for you (laughing)
MELISSA: That is really, really amazing. Now we have one more thing... oh, this one I'm familiar with! This is a medal, a rectangle. It has a ribbon around the neck, and it has some raised print and kind of a raised circle, almost looks like Braille... does it go this way maybe? No. So what is this artifact? And how old is it?
NICHOLE: This is a Six Dot Dash medal just from the year 2024, and this is from the NFB of Colorado Six Dot Dash, and this is something that they gave to us to help commemorate the event.
MELISSA: They have been having Six Dot Dashes for a while. We tried it in Baltimore, and it was okay, but didn't work out quite as well. Seems like in Colorado for whatever reason they have had much more luck with the Six Dot Dash as a fundraiser. Is that fair to say?
NICHOLE: I would say so. Maybe that goes with the territory of it being Colorado (laughing)
MELISSA: Absolutely. And the purpose is an award, right? For those that complete the race?
NICHOLE: For a commemorative event. And we specifically selected this one, because while it's a medal... while people get medals at various events, but this one actually has Braille on it. And part to have reason of selecting this is showing that Braille can be incorporated into these everyday objects that the sighted world might not think about. But it's really easy.
MELISSA: And getting easier now I would say just with all the technology. These are really cool artifacts. Alison, let's get over to you maybe. We're going to have these artifacts as part of our Museum of the Blind People's Movement, that's the hope, right?
ALISON: That's a great question. So certainly we have these artifacts in our archives because they are important to preserving the record of the history of the movement, but we don't know if these specific artifacts will be in the museum yet. Because we are actually still planning our topic areas and themes of the pneumonia.
There are infinite possible stories about the organized blind movement and about blind people. So what we're doing right now is we are in a stage of determining what kinds of stories to tell that will help us achieve our ultimate goal for the Museum, which is shattering misconceptions about blind people to transform the future.
So these artifacts represent the kinds of artifacts that might be in the museum, and as we continue planning, we will choose which artifacts, which people, which stories will raise expectations of visitors and inspire people to join the movement.
MELISSA: Wow, that is... that just sounds so fun to pick. And I'm guessing we probably are going to have different exhibits that come and go, that rotate in and out eventually, and of course we do want traveling exhibits and a very good virtual presence too, so this isn't just a museum that people can visit here in Baltimore, but it's really a museum that can be accessed from all around the world, is that right?
ALISON: Absolutely. And in fact the artifacts you explored here today are going to be featured on a website museum.nfb.org. So all of our listeners can log on to that site and find out even more about these and other artifacts related to the Story of Braille.
MELISSA: That is so exciting. Let's just say, for example, that we decide to have a story about this old raised print magazine. We want people to be able to touch this, right? I mean, that's part of it, a universally designed museum where people can use all the senses they have to really explore and get to know artifacts and exhibits?
What precautions are we going to take or think we might take to make sure that even though people are touching these things, they can still stay and be able to be used or won't get ripped or that type of thing?
ALISON: So I think obviously one of the things that is going to make this museum so different is we don't plan on putting the majority of the artifacts, if any at all, behind glass or ropes. We want people to touch things, but going with that, we do still want to make sure the artifacts are preserved for as long as possible, and that is a difficult balance to reach, but one of the things that is definitely important is proper handling of them, so a lot of these artifacts will be properly mounted, and mile you're be able to touch and rifle through them, you won't necessarily pick them up and carry them around the room, so that's a huge thing.
MELISSA: I'm wondering about that again, I guess not hand sanitizer, but is there anything that maybe we'll have to look into? Because we all have oils on our hands, right? Is are there things we could do? Could you wipe your hands on something before you touch? I don't know, I mean, this is totally new territory.
ALISON: Absolutely. And this has been a conversation progressing in the world of historic collections management of to glove or not to glove, just in general. And while in the past everything was very strictly wear your white cotton gloves, it's been coming to the forefront that is not always necessarily the most beneficial handling method to various artifacts.
Sometimes gloves actually make it harder to not only handle things and know what you are touching, but it makes it more dangerous for the artifact as well. Imagine glass on gloves or paper getting caught on it.
MELISSA: Yeah.
ALISON: So we have moved on for a lot of things to just having clean, dry hands and being gentle with things. There are oils on your hands, absolutely, but we're going to try to mitigate that, obviously.
But mainly just making sure that people don't have freshly applied lotion or that we're eating potato chips or Cheetos and they have that orange. Right, everything is going to be covered with orange fingerprints afterwards (laughing).
MELISSA: Got it. Wow, that is fascinating. All right, one more question, unless you both have anything else you would like to add. My question is... what makes these artifacts and the other artifacts in our collection so important to the Museum of the Blind People's Movement?
NICHOLE: I'll take a first stab, I guess. So these artifacts we have brought today fit into the larger narrative that we're trying to tell about the story of Braille, that we're doing at this convention, a little snapshot of it, and that is definitely going to be something that is addressed in the Museum of the Blind People's Movement.
I am not sure how you can talk about that without addressing Braille in some way. So like we said before, we don't necessarily know that these exact artifacts will be in the museum, but there will be artifacts of similar caliber that help tell these same stories.
MELISSA: Great. Alison, what do you think?
ALISON: I would say two of the things that make this museum really unique from any other museum in the world is one that all of the stories are blind centered and told from blind people's perspectives. So stories about Braille certainly exemplify that... as these artifacts do here today. But secondly, we have a focus on the organized blind movement.
This is not just a museum about blindness in general but about blind people coming together to advocate, to fight for their rights, and to change the world.
And so, for example, with this story of Braille, it's not just about how Braille is produced, although that is interesting, but about the fight for literacy in schools for blind students. And about the fight for Braille in public spaces, so that blind people have the same access to information as non blind people.
So that perspective and that focus is really what sets apart our museum in telling the story of the blind people's movement, and we think these artifacts exemplify that and we're going to have even more stories that demonstrate the power of the movement in the museum.
MELISSA: Well, let me just say too, these two magazines, Moon Magazine and the raised print magazine, the Philadelphia magazine, I'm thinking particularly in 1889 with this Philadelphia magazine.
I am guessing it was produced by sighted people in raised print for those poor blind people, and it only included what the sighted people thought a poor blind person might possibly want to know. It didn't have the depth and breadth of even a fraction of what was available in print in magazines in the news of the day.
And maybe the Moon Magazine had some more, since it was 1990, maybe that's a little bit different, but it really wasn't until Braille, in my opinion, that blind people could also do a lot more of... no, this is what we want to have in Braille, Louis Braille transcribing things, writing letters and their own letters their own stories back and forth to one another in Braille, that's important.
ALISON: That's such an important point and that reminds me of some other stories that we have in addition to the artifacts. The archives also collects oral histories and all kinds of media.
If you go to the website museum.nfb.org, you can hear two clips from oral histories of Federationists talking about Braille, as well as clips from a video called "That the Blind May Read" where Dr. Jernigan makes that point, that you just explained to beautifully.
So those are also examples of how our museum is unique, by centering and showcasing those stories, those voices of blind people. MELISSA: Well, I am even more excited than I was before about the Museum of the Blind People's Movement.
Thank you both so much for sitting down and talking with me and talking with everybody listening here today about the museum, about the artifacts, and just giving more education, more knowledge about what it might look like in the future. Do either of you have anything else you would like to share before our interview ends?
ALISON: Yes. So as I mentioned, we are currently actively planning the themes, the topic areas, and we want to hear from members. So we would love for you to reach out to us by emailing us at museum@nfb.org with your ideas, thoughts, questions, so that we can keep this conversation going with everyone listening today.
MELISSA: So great. Anything else from you, Nichole?
NICHOLE: No, I think Alison very clearly covered that.
MELISSA: Okay. If people have donations, can they get in touch with you or things they think might be of interest? Is that the easiest thing, just get in touch with you and say what they have and whether we want it?
NICHOLE: If you want to email me at jtblibrary@NFB.org and just give a little rundown of what you have that might be of interest to us. I can't make any promises, because there's a good chance we might already have some of this stuff, but we are always interested, and reaching out is the best way to ensure that we don't have gaps in our collection.
MELISSA: And especially if you have things of affiliate secretaries that might have minutes or things from a very long time ago. In fact, I should look on my computer. I was secretary of several chapters back in the day, and I might have some pretty old meeting minutes, perhaps. So I'll take a look and let you know.
NICHOLE: Yes, absolutely. And remember that sending your things into National is the best way to make sure that they don't just get lost on someone's computer.
MELISSA: Exactly. That's right. Well, thank you guys both so, so much. I am just excited and I think that our listeners now will have a much better understanding of the museum, and I do. And thank you for letting me touch the artifacts.
NICHOLE: Of course! Thank you so much.