Laurent Clerc

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Laurent Clerc bigraphy, stories - Educators

Laurent Clerc : biography

December 26, 1785 – July 18, 1869

Louis Laurent Marie Clerc (26 December 1785 – 18 July 1869) was called "The Apostle of the Deaf in America" by generations of American deaf people. He was taught by Abbe Sicard, at the famous school for the Deaf in Paris, Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets. With Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, he co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America, the Hartford Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb on April 15, 1817 in the old Bennet’s City Hotel, Hartford, Connecticut. The school was subsequently renamed the American School for the Deaf and in 1821 moved to its present site. The school remains the oldest existing school for the deaf in North America.

Writings by or about Laurent Clerc

  • When The Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf, by Harlan Lane. ISBN 0-679-72023-5 (Download Chapter 1, "My New Family": http://saveourdeafschools.org/when_the_mind_hears_chapter_1.pdf)
  • "Autobiography of Laurent Clerc," Chapter III, in: "Tribute to Gallaudet – A Discourse in Commemoration of the Life, Character and Services, of the Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, LL.D. – Delivered Before the Citizens of Hartford, Jan. 7th, 1852. With an Appendix, Containing History of Deaf-Mute Instruction and Institutions, and other Documents." By Henry Barnard, 1852. (Download book: http://www.saveourdeafschools.org/tribute_to_gallaudet.pdf, see PDF pages 105–115.)
  • Clerc, Laurent. The Diary of Laurent Clerc’s Voyage from France to America in 1816 (West Hartford, CT: American School for the Deaf, 1952). 22 pages. (Download book: http://saveourdeafschools.org/diary_of_laurent_clercs_voyage.pdf)
  • Clerc, Laurent. An Address Written by Mr. Clerc and Read By His Request at a Public Examination of the Pupils in the Connecticut Asylum Before the Governour and Both Houses of the Legislature, 28 May 1818. (Download: http://saveourdeafschools.org/laurent_clerc_address_1818.pdf)
  • Clerc, Laurent. Address at the Inauguration of Gallaudet University, 1864. (Download text of address: http://saveourdeafschools.org/laurent_clerc_address_1864.pdf)
  • “Reminiscences of Laurent Clerc,” by L.C.T. Silent World, July 1871, pages 5–6. (Download article: http://library.gallaudet.edu/pdf/SilentWorld.pdf)
  • Clerc, Laurent. “Visits to Some of the Schools for the Deaf and Dumb in France and England,” American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 1, Number 1, October 1847, pages 62–66. (Download article: http://library.gallaudet.edu/pdf/Visitsa.pdf)
  • Clerc, Laurent. “Visits to Some of the Schools for the Deaf and Dumb in France and England,” American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 1, Number 2, January 1848, pages 113–120. (Download article: http://library.gallaudet.edu/pdf/Visitsb.pdf)
  • Clerc, Laurent. “Visits to Some of the Schools for the Deaf and Dumb in France and England,” American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 1, Number 3, April 1848, pages 170–176. (Download article: http://library.gallaudet.edu/pdf/Visitsc.pdf)
  • Denison, James. “The Memory of Laurent Clerc: Dedication Address for Clerc Memorial,” American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 19, Number 4, October 1874, pages 238–244. (Download article: http://library.gallaudet.edu/pdf/Memory.pdf)
  • Gallaudet, Edward Miner. "Life of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet – Founder of Deaf-Mute Instruction in America" by Edward Miner Gallaudet, 1888. For information about Laurent Clerc, see pp. 92 and following. (Download book: http://saveourdeafschools.org/life_of_thomas_hopkins_gallaudet.pdf)
  • Irving, Washington (editor). "The Deaf and Dumb" in: Analectic magazine. May 1820 issue. Philadelphia, Pa.: Moses Thomas, pp. 419–431. to Google books.
  • Massieu, Jean; Laurent Clerc; and Roch Ambroise Cucurron Sicard. 1815. London: Printed for Massieu and Clerc, by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields
  • Porter, Samuel. “Retirement of Mr. Clerc,” American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 10, Number 3, July 1858, pages, 181–183. (Download article: http://library.gallaudet.edu/pdf/Retirement.pdf)