Miss Spitfire (20 page)

B
OOKS

The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller (restored editions including Annie's letters have been published by Modern Library and W. W. Norton)

Anne Sullivan Macy
by Nella Braddy Henney

Teacher
by Helen Keller

Helen and Teacher
by Joseph P. Lash

The World I Live In
by Helen Keller

Helen Keller: Rebellious Spirit
by Laurie Lawlor

O
NLINE

Perkins online museum, Anne Sullivan history section:
www.perkins.org/museum/section.php?id=214

American Foundation for the Blind's Anne Sullivan Macy museum:
www.afb.org/annesullivan/

Tewksbury Historical Society archives, Tewksbury Almshouse section:
http://www.tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org/Archives/ StateHospital/index.html
(includes an excerpt from
Anne Sullivan Macy
)

AFB's Helen Keller museum:
www.afb.org/Section. asp?SectionID=1

AFB's Braille Bug, an interactive kids' museum of Helen Keller:
www.afb.org/braillebug/hkmuseum.asp
(a clip of the only existing recording of Annie's voice can be found at
www.afb.org/braillebug/ hkgallery.asp?tpid=3)

Ivy Green's official website:
www. helenkellerbirthplace.org

V
IDEOS

Helen Keller in Her
Story (originally released in the 1950s as
The Unconquered
)

The Miracle Worker
(I particularly recommend the 1962 version, starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke)

April 14, 1866—Johanna “Annie” Sullivan is born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts.

1874—Annie's mother dies.

February 22, 1876—Annie and Jimmie enter Tewksbury.

May 30, 1876—Jimmie dies.

June 27, 1880—Helen Keller is born in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

October 7, 1880—Annie enters Perkins Institution for the Blind.

February 1882—Helen becomes deaf and blind.

August 1886—The Kellers write to Perkins, requesting a teacher.

March 3, 1887—Annie arrives in Tuscumbia and meets Helen.

April 5,1887—Helen learns “water.”

1900—Helen enters Radcliffe College.

1902—Annie and Helen meet John Macy.

1903—Helen publishes
The Story of My Life.

1904—Helen graduates cum laude from Radcliffe College.

May 2, 1905—Annie marries John Macy.

1913-16—Annie and Helen tour the North American lecture circuit.

1914—Annie and John Macy separate; Polly Thomson is hired.

1916—Helen nearly elopes; Annie's health begins to fail, and she spends five months in Puerto Rico.

1918—Annie and Helen travel to Hollywood to film
Deliverance.

1919-23—Annie and Helen perform on the vaudeville circuit.

1929—Annie's right eye is removed.

1932—John Macy dies; Annie's health sinks further, and she becomes virtually blind.

February 16,1932—Annie and Helen receive honorary degrees from Temple University.

1933—
Anne Sullivan Macy
is published.

October 20, 1936—Annie dies.

1955—Helen publishes
Teacher.

1960—Polly Thomson dies.

June 1, 1968—Helen dies.

B
OOKS AND
A
RTICLES

Braddy, Nella.
Anne Sullivan Macy: The Story Behind Helen Keller
. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, 1933.

Gibson, William.
The Miracle Worker
. New York: Bantam, 1960.

Gritter, Elizabeth.
The Imprisoned Guest: Samuel Howe and Laura Bridgman
. New York: Parrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2001.

Harrity, Richard, and Ralph G. Martin.
The Three Lives of Helen Keller
. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962.

Herrmann, Dorothy.
Helen Keller: A Life
. New York: Knopf, 1998.

Howe, Maud, and Florence Howe Hall.
Laura Bridgman: Dr. Howe's Famous Pupil and What He Taught Her
. Boston: Little, Brown, 1904.

Keirsey, David, and Marilyn Bates.
Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types
. Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis, 1984.

Keller, Helen.
Helen Keller's Journal
. New York: Doubleday, 1938.

-----.
Midstream: My Later Life
. New York: Doubleday, 1929.

-----.
The Story of My Life
. Edited by James Berger. New York: Modern Library, 2003.

-----
The Story of My Life: The Restored Classic.
Edited by Roger Shattuck, with Dorothy Herrmann. New York: W.W.Norton, 2003.

-----.
Teacher
. New York: Doubleday, 1955.

-----.
The World I Live In
. New York: Century, 1908.

Konigsburg, E. L.
Talktalk: A Children's Book Author Speaks to Grown-ups
. New York: Atheneum, 1995.

Lamson, Mary Swift.
Life and Education of Laura Dewey Bridgman
. Boston: New England Publishing, 1879.

Lash, Joseph P.
Helen and Teacher: The Story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy
. New York: Delacorte, 1980.

Paterson, Katherine.
Gates of Excellence: On Reading and Writing Books for Children
. New York: Elsevier/Nelson Books, 1981.

Percy, Walker.
The Message in the Bottle: How Queer Man Is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do with the Other
. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1975.

Tilney, Frederick. “A Comparative Sensory Analysis of Helen Keller and Laura Bridgman.” Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, June 1929, 1227-69.

F
ILMS

Helen Keller: In Her Story
. VHS. Directed and produced by Nancy Hamilton. N.p.:Hen's Tooth Video, 1992.

The Miracle Worker
. DVD. N.p.: Playfilm Productions, 1962.

O
NLINE
S
OURCES

Brown, Jonathan, et al. “
Eighth Annual Report of the Inspectors of the State Almshouse at Tewksbury
.” Boston, MA: William White, 1861.
http://www.tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org/Archives/
StateHospital/index.html
(accessed March 24, 2006).

Butler, Benjamin. “
Argument Before the Tewksbury Investigation Committee
.” Boston, MA: Democratic Central Committee, 1883.
http://www.tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org/Archives/
StateHospital/index.html
(accessed March 24, 2006).

“
Cartoons and Comments
.” Puck Magazine, August 1, 1883: 342.
http://www.tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org/Archives/
StateHospital/index.html
(accessed March 24, 2006).

Davis, R. T., et al. “Fifth Annual Report of the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity of the State of Massachusetts.” Boston, MA: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1884.
http://www.tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org/Archives/
StateHospital/index.html
(accessed March 25, 2006).

Leonard, Clara T. “The Present Condition of Tewksbury.” Boston, MA: Franklin Press, 1883.
http://www.tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org/Archives/
StateHospital/index.html
(accessed March 24, 2006).

‘The Record of Benjamin F. Butler Since His Election as Governor of Massachusetts.” Boston, MA: 1883.
http://www.tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org/Archives/
StateHospital/index.html
(accessed March 25, 2006).

I owe a debt of thanks to a great many people:

All those who encouraged this story, and the ones that came before it: Aunt Alice, Miriam Burkhart, Judy & Rich Dugger, Richard Hill, Sharon Lark, Judy Lopus, William Menter, Aleda Morr, Mary Payne, Linda Pavonetti, Christine Rowley, Cynthia Sanborn, and the staff of the “old” Kezar Library.

My early readers: Carol Azizian, Ruth Burns, Collyn & Daryl DeBano, Cherrill Flynn, and Sue Sirgany.

For their support and general bookishness, my fine friends at Halfway Down the Stairs: Linda Brick, Sue Lorenzen, Cam Mannino, Martha Nelson, and Pat Penney.

Casey Leigh Floyd, who writes the best post-rejection consolation e-mails ever!

Kelly DiPucchio and Sue Stauffacher, for leading me to my agent.

Erica Stahler, who saved me from a handful of embarrassing errors, and Kim Nielsen for giving me a passing grade on my “Annie Sullivan Final” with her insightful reading of the manuscript.

Wendy Schmalz and Justin Chanda, my agent and my editor, who never made me feel like a rookie.

Donna Jo Napoli, who has been a Teacher to me.

And Mom & Dad, who took me to Meadow Brook Theatre to see
The Miracle Worker,
and then said, “Let's go to Alabama.”

The earliest surviving photo of Helen Keller, taken at age seven. No pictures of Helen before the arrival of Annie Sullivan are known to exist. Courtesy of the American Foundation for the Blind, Helen Keller Archives

The earliest known photo of Anne Sullivan, taken in 1881, within a year of her arrival at the Perkins Institution. She was fifteen years old.
Courtesy of the Perkins School for the Blind

Anne Sullivan, photographed on August 1, 1887, a few months after her breakthrough with Helen.
Courtesy of the Perkins School for the Blind

Annie and Helen fingerspelling together in 1890. This is one of a handful of photos showing Helen's protruding left eye. For many years, she was carefully photographed in profile to hide the deformity.
Courtesy of the Perkins School for the Blind