Manuscripts
Gilbert C. Eastman, 1934-2006
Papers of Gilbert C. Eastman , 1974-1994
Gallaudet University Archives
Descriptive Summary
Repository: Gallaudet University Archives
Call No.: MSS 68
Creator:
Title: Papers of Gilbert C. Eastman, 1974-1994.
Quantity: 3.0 Linear Feet (6 document boxes)
Abstract:
Note: This document last updated 2005 December 2.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information: The Gilbert C. Eastman collection was donated to the Gallaudet University Archives by Gilbert Eastman in 1990.
Processed by: Colleen Crisp. 1996 March 29.
Processing Note:
Conditions on Use and Access: This collection is open to the public with no restrictions. Photocopies may be made for scholarly research.
Related Material in the Archives:
See ALADIN for complete listings.
- A sense of wonder, a sense of worth [motion picture]. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Deaf Film 17-6
- Recruitment project - [Behind scenes of "Face of Clerc" play] [motion picture]. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Deaf Film 382-4
- Recruitment project - [Homecoming dance-play-alumni brunch] [motion picture]. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Deaf Film 39-8
- Collection, The Hughes Memorial Theatre, 1959-1986. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: MSS 77
- 5th annual School of Communication Awards Program [picture]. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Drawer B11
- Gilbert C. Eastman [picture]. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Portraits
- Papers, William Moses, 1987. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: SMSS
- Papers, Gilbert Eastman, 1952. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: SMSS
- Gilbert Eastman. Gallaudet University Archives, Call Number: Deaf Biographical
Biographical Sketch
Gilbert C. Eastman was born in Middletown, CT on September 12, 1934. He graduated from the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, CT in 1953. He entered Gallaudet College and was an actor in many plays given at Gallaudet College. He graduated in 1957 and started teaching drama after he graduated.
For many years, Gilbert C. Eastman has accomplished so much that he became well-known in the Deaf Community. He was a founding member of the Tony Award-winning National Theater of the Deaf. He received a Master of Fine Arts in Drama from Catholic University in 1963, making him the first deaf person to earn that diploma. From 1957-1969, he was a director and a stage manager for many plays at Gallaudet College. He wrote and directed the well-known play, Laurent Clerc: A profile in 1977. He was a television host of the Emmy Award-winning show, Deaf Mosaic.
Gilbert C. Eastman gave many presentations on Laurent Clerc at banquets, meetings, and schools. After 35 years of teaching and acting chair for the Drama Department, he retired in 1992.
Scope and Content
The Gilbert C. Eastman Collection contains papers mostly on Laurent Clerc. Gilbert C. Eastman became interested in collecting information on Laurent Clerc when he was on sabbatical leave from Gallaudet College to write his play, Laurent Clerc: A profile.
The collection has Xerox papers on Laurent Clerc, the history of American School for the Deaf, maps, pictures, Clerc's descendants, correspondence, presentations, and his trips to France. It also included his script from the play, Laurent Clerc: A profile. There are slides from his trip to France and they are now in the photograph collection in the Gallaudet University Archives. He gathered most of that information from Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale College, American School for the Deaf, and Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, CT.
Series Descriptions and Folder Lists
No Series
| Box | Number | Title of Folder | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01 | Articles on Laurent Clerc | 1785-1815 |
| 1 | 02 | Articles on Laurent Clerc | 1815 |
| 1 | 03 | Articles on Laurent Clerc | 1816-1818 |
| 1 | 04 | Articles on Laurent Clerc | 1819-1829 |
| 1 | 05 | Articles on Laurent Clerc | 1830-1847 |
| 1 | 06 | Articles on Laurent Clerc | 1848-1860 |
| 1 | 07 | Articles on Laurent Clerc | 1861-1869 |
| 2 | 01 | 1870-1875 | |
| 2 | 02 | 1876-1879, misc | |
| 2 | 03 | An Address written by Mr. Clerc and read by his request at a public examination of the pupils in the Connecticut Asylum before the governor and both Houses of Legislative | 1818 |
| 2 | 04 | "Advantages and Disadvantages of the use of signs" | n.d. |
| 2 | 05 | Announcement of Clerc's wedding | 1819 |
| 2 | 06 | Articles | 1850-1943 |
| 2 | 07 | Article-Why NYU chose Gallaudet? | 1981 |
| 2 | 08 | Asylum Hill Congregational Church | 1965 |
| 2 | 09 | Bibliography | n.d. |
| 2 | 10 | Biography written by Clerc's grandson | n.d. |
| 2 | 11 | Edmund Booth | n.d. |
| 2 | 12 | "Deaf teachers of the Deaf" by Edmund B. Boatner | n.d. |
| 2 | 13 | "Noteworthy careers and achievements of the Deaf" by Edmund B. Boatner | 1933 |
| 2 | 14 | Napoleon Bonaparte | n.d. |
| 2 | 15 | John Brewster | 1977 |
| 2 | 16 | John Carlin | 1868 |
| 2 | 17 | City Hall | n.d. |
| 2 | 18 | Laurent Clerc | 1825-1983 |
| 2 | 19 | Laurent Clerc Bicentennial Anniversary | 1985-1986 |
| 2 | 20 | Clerc's house in La Balme, France | 1985 |
| 2 | 21 | Laurent Clerc Memorial Dedication | 1987 |
| 2 | 22 | Clerc Hall Dedication | 1974 |
| 2 | 23 | Alice Cogswell | 1815-1818 |
| 2 | 24 | Mason Cogswell | 1817-1818 |
| 2 | 25 | Collection Stamps - Thomas Gallaudet | n.d. |
| 2 | 26 | Comics | 1953-1955 |
| 2 | 27 | Commemorative Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet Stamps | 1983 |
| 2 | 28 | "Congress and the Deaf and Dumb" - The Silent World | 1872 |
| 3 | 01 | Conversation between Clerc and a passenger on a ship | n.d. |
| 3 | 02 | Conversation between Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Clerc | ca 1816 |
| 3 | 03 | Copies from transparencies #1-8, map of Hartford, pictures of inns in Connecticut | n.d. |
| 3 | 04 | Correspondence | 1971-1991 |
| 3 | 05 | "Deaf and Dumb or the orphan protected. A historical drama in five acts" | 1817 |
| 3 | 06 | Descendants of Laurent Clerc 1908-1945 | |
| 3 | 07 | Descriptive list of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Edward Miner Gallaudet papers | n.d. |
| 3 | 08 | The diary of Laurent Clerc's voyage from France to America in 1816 | 1952 |
| 3 | 09 | Documents relating to Clerc | 1804-1978 |
| 3 | 10 | To the editor of the Hartford from Walter G. Durian | n.d. |
| 3 | 11 | Family tree of Clerc | n.d. |
| 3 | 12 | The Fanwood Journal | 1932-1938 |
| 3 | 13 | "The Gate to Heaven: T.H. Gallaudet and the rhetoric of the Deaf Education movement" by James J. Fernandes | 1979 |
| 3 | 14 | Flyers | 1991 |
| 3 | 15 | Miner Fowler House | 1917-1982 |
| 3 | 16 | Sophia Fowler - early pictures | 1818 |
| 3 | 17 | Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet | 1817 |
| 3 | 18 | GCAA 32nd Triennial Reunion | 1985 |
| 4 | 01 | Susan Clerc Galloway | 1976-1987 |
| 4 | 02 | Jack Gannon | 1981-1985 |
| 4 | 03 | Greeting cards with Jean Massieu's quotes | n.d. |
| 4 | 04 | Hartford, CT - general information | n.d. |
| 4 | 05 | Historical, Anecdotal, etc | n.d. |
| 4 | 06 | History of American School for the Deaf | n.d. |
| 4 | 07 | The history of the first school for the Deaf-mutes of America: how they are educated and how the alphabets are invented and introduced into use | 1883 |
| 4 | 08 | "History of the town of Henniker" by Leander W. Cogswell | 1978 |
| 4 | 09 | "How to find your roots" | 1977 |
| 4 | 10 | Inauguration of the College for the Deaf and Dumb at Washington, DC | 1864 |
| 4 | 11 | Invitation to play - "Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and first school for the Deaf" at KDES | 1982 |
| 4 | 12 | "The language of the eye" | n.d. |
| 4 | 13 | L'Abbe de l'Epeé | 1818 |
| 4 | 14 | List of records and historical objects in the museum of ASD, West Hartford, CT | 1981 |
| 4 | 15 | Manual (finger) Alphabet | n.d. |
| 4 | 16 | Jean Massieu | 1817 |
| 4 | 17 | Miscellaneous | 1808-1979 |
| 4 | 18 | "The National College for Mutes" | n.d. |
| 4 | 19 | National Deaf Mute Gazette | 1868 |
| 4 | 20 | Notes by Gilbert C.Eastman | n.d |
| 4 | 21 | Ohio School for the Deaf | 1872-1985 |
| 4 | 22 | "On the use of Methodical Signs" | n.d. |
| 4 | 23 | Oral and Manual Controversy | n.d. |
| 4 | 24 | Charles Willson Peale | 1822-1988 |
| 4 | 25 | Photocopies of ASD | n.d. |
| 4 | 26 | Photos of Laurent Clerc | n.d. |
| 4 | 27 | Photostats of Clerc's papers from Yale College, donated by Francis J. Clerc (son) part 1 | |
| 5 | 01 | Photostats of Clerc's papers from Yale College, donated by Francis J. Clerc (son) part 2 | |
| 5 | 02 | Poems | n.d. |
| 5 | 03 | Presentations | 1977-1979 |
| 5 | 04 | Presentations | 1985-1994 |
| 5 | 05 | Production - Laurent Clerc: A profile at ASD | 1977 |
| 5 | 06 | Proposal to change University's name | 1987 |
| 5 | 07 | Reminiscences of Laurent Clerc | 1871-1882 |
| 5 | 08 | Reports of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb | 1865-1875 |
| 5 | 09 | L'Abbe' Sicard | n.d. |
| 5 | 10 | Lydia Huntley Sigourney | 1845-1937 |
| 5 | 11 | Slides from trip to France | 1980 |
| 5 | 12 | Specimens of original composition by some of the most advanced pupils in the Asylum | 1886 |
| 5 | 13 | "A retrospect of the education of the Deaf, on occasion of the Clerc Centennial Commemoration, December 28, 1885" by Henry Winter Syle | 1885 |
| 6 | 01 | Trip to France | 1980 |
| 6 | 02 | Trip to France | 1980 |
| 6 | 03 | Trip to France | 1985 |
