Manuscripts

Descriptive Summary

Repository: Gallaudet University Archives
Call No.: MSS 94
Creator:
Title: Collection of the Jr. National Association of the Deaf, 1967-1988
Quantity: 1.0 Linear Feet (2 document boxes)
Abstract:
Note: This document last updated 2005 December 16.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information: The Junior National Association of the Deaf Collection was donated to the Gallaudet University Archives.
Processed by: Eric M. Gunther. 1999 June 25.
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

Historical Sketch

Dallas, Texas is the birthplace of the Junior National Association of the Deaf. A group of conscientious deaf adults, headed by Mervin Garretson, Executive Director of the Council of Organizations Serving the Deaf, Marvin Rood, West Virginia School for the Deaf, Dr. Byron B. Burnes, California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, and the late G. Dewey Coats, Missouri School for the Deaf, got together at the 1960 Convention of the National Association of the Deaf to lay the foundation of the present Jr. N.A.D. The primary objectives as well as today was to stimulate national effort among both educators of the deaf and the deaf themselves in bringing out the best that deaf youngsters are capable of performing---a collective effort towards their maximum total growth through involvement in motivation-conscious programs.

Washington, D.C. was the scene of the history-making First National Convention of the Junior N.A.D., May 8-12, 1968, on the campus of Gallaudet College, the only college for the deaf in the world offering courses in Liberal Arts. One hundred and twenty outstanding deaf teenagers and their adult sponsors from schools for the deaf throughout the country responded to the call for the first national sharing of ideas among America's deaf youth aimed at maximum possible American life for all deaf people. Succeeding convention dates: April 15-19, 1970 at Gallaudet College and August 23-27, 1972, at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf, Rochester. New York.

Indianapolis, Indiana on November 14-16, 1968, ushered in the first regional workshop ever staged for and by deaf youth of America. This was the "Mid-Western Deaf Youth Leadership Demonstration," chairman by 17-year-old Melinda Chapel, which drew students and their sponsors from 24 Midwestern residential and deaf schools for the deaf. Others in attendance included teachers and other personnel from schools for the deaf throughout the United States and Administrators from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Gallaudet College; the National Technical Institute of the Deaf, and the National Organizations Serving the Deaf, plus others not directly connected with the program who possess a genuine interest in the maximum development of the deaf youth of America.

Scope and Content

The Junior National Association of the Deaf collection contain three boxes of records, correspondence, newsletters, new releases, proceeding papers, convention program books, constitution and bylaws, and officers' publications. The collection, which has approximately 800 papers dated from 1967 to1988. Items from Jr. N.A.D. boxes has information on addresses, banquets, proceedings, correspondence, and conventions. Information included some history about Junior N.A.D.

Series Descriptions and Folder Lists
No Series