Minutes A0185

Minutes

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Overview of the Records

Repository:

New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230

Summary:

This series of meeting minutes documents the Commission for the Blind's efforts to improve the condition of blind persons in the state, and to provide recommendations to the governor for ameliorating their condition and for preventing blindness. Early entries outline the Commission's formation; later entries reflect their cooperation with advocacy groups and employers to improve services, working conditions, education and home teaching, advocacy and problems solve. Individual meetings are indexed.

Creator:

New York (State). Commission for the Blind

Title:

Minutes

Quantity:

0.2 cubic feet

(1 microfilm reel)

Inclusive Dates:

1913-1914

Series Number:

A0185

Arrangement

Chronological by meeting date.

Scope and Content Note

The series consists of typescript copies of meeting minutes, some of which contain slight annotations, for several regular meetings and one annual meeting of the commission. The minutes are the official record of meetings held by the commission in the course of its efforts to improve the condition of blind persons in the state, and to provide recommendations to the governor for ameliorating their condition and for preventing blindess.

There is a table of contents indexing the minutes of each meeting, and the minutes are typically organized by the following sections: order of business/attendance; secretary's report; abstract of secretary's report (sometimes); financial statement (of current and/or estimated expenses, proposed budget); memoranda submitted to or prepared by the commission (on subjects of interest, special hearings, etc.); and discussion and recommendations (sometimes proposed resolutions).

Start-up and background information on the commission's formation, organization of work, and some of its primary focus areas is found in the first folder of the series. Activities in these areas are generally reported in the memoranda and discussions of later meetings and reflect the commission's responsibilities as stated in Chapter 415 of the Laws of 1913. Examples of such activities include: maintaining a register of blind persons in the state; visiting such state associations as the Rochester and Buffalo Associations for the Blind, the Brooklyn Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities; visiting numerous institutions and organizations in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Ohio; establishing schools for industrial training and promoting home teaching; and cooperating with interested organizations for advocacy and problem solving.

Of special interest is information on commission cooperation with advocacy groups and employers, and reports on industries. Examples include: a report on broom making (a leading industry for blind men) addressing problems with price and availability of materials and the competition posed by (Auburn) prison labor; a summary of commission work with the Albany Association for the Blind in acquiring a building in Albany as its headquarters for industrial work by the blind; statements expressing the need for more involvement with the State Federation of Workers for the Blind; and a report of the concern of the New York Section of the Council of Jewish Women on the subject of feeble minded blind children.