Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, (sculpture).

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, (sculpture).

French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931, sculptor.

Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, founder.

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, (sculpture).

1887-1888. Cast 1889. Dedicated June 26, 1889.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.

Sculpture: approx. 6 ft. x 3 ft. 9 in. x 4 ft. 3 in.; Base: approx. 4 ft. 2 in. x 6 ft. 5 in. x 7 ft.

(Lower right corner:) D.C. FRENCH. SC. 1888 / Cast by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Co. 1889 N-Y. (Base, front:) FRIEND/TEACHER BENEFACTOR (Base, left side:) BORN AT PHILADELPHIA DEC 10 1787/FUNDED/AT HARTFORD THE FIRST SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF/IN AMERICA/1817/DIED AT HARTFORD SEPT 10 1851 (Base, right side:) THE DEAF PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES/IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE/OF THOMAS HOPKINS GALLAUDET/MARK THE CENTENNIAL OF HIS BIRTH WITH THIS MEMORIAL/1887 (Base, rear:) ERECTED BY CONTRIBUTORS FROM EVERY STATE,/TERRITORY AND DISTRICT OF THE./UNITED STATES/ - /EDWIN A. HODGSON./PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION./THEODORE A/ FAROELICH./CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE./AMOS G. DRAPER,/TREASURER OF THE FUND. signed Founder's mark appears.

A seated portrait of Thomas Gallaudet shown with his first student, Alice Cogswell, who stands on his proper left. Gallaudet places his left arm around the girl's waist and with his proper right hand makes the sign for the letter "A" as Alice, too, makes the "A" sign with her right hand. Alice looks up toward Gallaudet and holds an open book to her chest with her proper left hand. Gallaudet is dressed in a long jacket, vest, and bow tie. His wavy hair curls around his face. Alice is dressed in a square-necked, long dress and her hair is pulled back away from her face.

Portrait male -- Gallaudet, Thomas Hopkins -- Full length

Occupation -- Education -- Teacher

Portrait female -- Cogswell, Alice -- Full length

State of Being -- Disabled -- Deaf

Outdoor Sculpture -- District of Columbia -- Washington

Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Avenue, N.E., Washington, District of Columbia 20002

The sculpture was funded through contributions from the deaf in every state in the country. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a Yale Divinity School graduate first became interested in educating the deaf through his friendship with a deaf child named Alice Cogswell. Alice Cogswell's father and friends provided funds for Gallaudet to study methods for educating the deaf in Europe. It was there that he learned the art of sign language from Frenchman, Abbe de l'Eppe who had derived it from Spanish monks. Gallaudet developed his own technique by combining sign language with methods of speech. Gallaudet was the first American to establish a school for the deaf when he founded his school in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817. He remained at the school as president until 1930 and through the years trained many who went on to head schools for the deaf around the country. One of Gallaudet's sons, Edward Miner Gallaudet, became the first superintendent of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. When Gallaudet College was founded it was named in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, District of Columbia survey, 1993.

Goode, James M., "The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C., A Comprehensive Historical Guide," Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974, pg. 318.

Richman, Michael, "Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor," New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1976, pg. 62-68.

Greenthal, Kathryn, "Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master Sculptor," New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985, pg. 41.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, DC5021, 1989.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

Monumental News, June 1889, pg. 97.

SOS Conservation Treatment Award, 1998.

Michael Richman, SAAM curatorial assistant, 1967-1969.

"Antoine Mercie, Sculptor of the Lee Monument: The French Academic Tradition in American Public Sculpture," University of Richmond, Marsh Gallery, 1990 (exhibition brochure), pg. 17.

Goode, James M., "The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C., A Comprehensive Historical Guide," Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974, I-2.

Richman, Michael, "Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor," New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1976, pg. 62.

Greenthal, Kathryn, "Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Master Sculptor," New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985, pg. 41.

Washington Post, June 4, 1971, pg. B1.

"Antoine Mercie, Sculptor of the Lee Monument: The French Academic Tradition in American Public Sculpture," University of Richmond, Marsh Gallery, 1990 (exhibition brochure), pg. 17.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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