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TLS signed in pencil, “Respectfully yours, Helen Keller,” one page, 8 x 10, May 5, 1900. Addressed from “138 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Mass.,” a letter to the Chairman of the Academic Board of Radcliffe College, in full: “As an aid to me in determining my plans for study the coming year, I apply to you for information as to the possibility of my taking the regular courses in Radcliffe College.
Since receiving my certificate of admission to Radcliffe last July, I have been studying with a private tutor, Horace, Aeschylus, French, German, Rhetoric, English History, English Literature and Criticism, and English composition.
In college I should wish to continue most, if not all of these subjects. The conditions under which I work require the presence of Miss Sullivan, who has been my teacher and companion for thirteen years, as an interpreter of oral speech and as a reader of examination papers. In college she, or possibly in some subjects some one else, would of necessity be with me in the lecture-room and at recitations. I should do all my written work on a type-writer, and if a Professor could not understand my speech, I could write out my answers to his questions and hand them to him after the recitation.
Is it possible for the College to accommodate itself to these unprecedented conditions, so as to enable me to pursue my studies at Radcliffe? I realize that the obstacles in the way of my receiving a college education are very great—to others they may even seem insurmountable; but, dear Sir, a true soldier does not acknowledge defeat before the battle.” Affixed to a slightly larger cardstock mount and in very good to fine condition, with trimmed edges, toning from prior display, and splitting to the very fragile folds.
Written from 138 Brattle Street in Cambridge, where Helen Keller resided during her preparation for and attendance at Radcliffe College, this letter dates to a transitional period in her education. Although Keller had already secured admission to Radcliffe, she postponed matriculation until the fall of 1900 in order to continue advanced study under private instruction. Writing to the Chairman of the Academic Board, she outlines the practical arrangements necessary for her college education, including the assistance of Anne Sullivan, who had served as her teacher and companion since childhood.
Keller also lists her recent studies in classical literature, modern languages, rhetoric, history, and English literature, subjects that closely paralleled her first-year coursework at Radcliffe. The accommodations she proposes in the letter, including Sullivan's presence in the classroom and the use of a typewriter for written work, formed the basis of her academic experience after entering the college later that year. Keller graduated from Radcliffe in 1904 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a college degree.
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