Alice Cogswell Bemis: A Sketch by a Friend

In this pencil sketch, Alice Cogswell sits at her desk in a classroom for the deaf, holding a book and pointing to the word "Mr." Her teacher is seated behind her, directing her attention to a spelling chart. The work is signed by George H. Bemis. The painting was created around 1885, when Alice was approximately four years old. Bemis was the first deaf-blind child to be educated in North America. Though she never learned to speak, she could read and write. It is believed that Cogswell's education led to the establishment of schools for other blind children who were deaf or blind or both, and their success in acquiring an education that would give them a better life. Sketch by a Friend is a historic document of early intervention efforts for deaf children in America.