Gallery of Diplomas - Ulysses S. Grant

The following are diplomas granted to Gallaudet University graduate and undergraduate students and signed by United States President Ulysses S. Grant who was president from 1869 until 1877.

Grant was the first U.S. President to sign the college's diplomas and on June 30, 1870, he was the first to preside over Presentation Day (Commencement) exercises. Grant also visited the campus on January 29, 1871, to attend the dedication ceremony of Chapel Hall.

Diplomas were also signed by Gallaudet President Edward Miner Gallaudet, president of the institution since its founding in 1864 until 1910.

In 1857 the school was known as the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. In 1864, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed a charter that authorized the formation of a college within the institution named the National College for the Deaf and Dumb.

In 1865, the blind students were transferred to the Maryland Institution for the Blind and the overall institution's name was changed to the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. The college became the National Deaf-Mute College.