The 1902 journal also includes topics as varied as Stonehenge and efforts to provide an early form of air-cooling for patrons attending the St. Louis World's Fair. Visible Speech Bell and his father, Alexander Melville Bell were innovators in the field of educating the deaf. Students can use the documents of Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers to learn about Visible Speech, a technique invented by Melville Bell. Search on visible speech to read the Bells' thoughts on this method of instruction and the evolving interest in and use of this technique. Students will discover in the letters that Bell was not as totally committed to Visible Speech as was his father.
Students can research what techniques are used today in educating the deaf.
Helen Keller, a deaf and blind girl, met Bell at the age of six after her family sought Bell's advice regarding her education. He led them to Miss Annie Sullivan who taught Helen to communicate. Search on Helen Keller for Bell's correspondence with the student and her teacher. Bell expressed a great interest in Helen Keller's accomplishments. He began his experiments in an attempt to improve the telegraph that depended on using Morse code to communicate.