14.4 – Behold – an image

Somewhat to my shame, it’s been a week since we posted here. The time’s been filled with a May bank holiday, and with the kind of writing of proposals and admin and preparation that take up a lot of an academic’s time.

Anyway – this morning, as we discussed what evidence we have, and what evidence we don’t, we were – again – sad that we didn’t have a picture of the space that seems to have been most Deaf-controlled; the downstairs of St Saviour’s.

Then we realised that there was one source that might have a picture that we hadn’t explore yet – the Americans who went through St Saviour’s on the way to the 1900 Paris Congress.

Contacting Joan Naturale at RIT gave us a link to the Silent Worker, and to this article, which gives us a picture.

Image of the lecture room underneath the st saviour's sanctuary

The picture appears to have been taken from the stage (pointing south), so the alcove at the far end would have been where the stairs from the Street Entrance come into the room.

It’s well lit, there are thin pillars (cast iron?), paintings on the wall which – if the descriptions are right will be by Deaf artists – and… is that a snooker table on the right?

Oh, we are delighted!

Thanks Joan – and thanks to the Silent Worker who preserved this for us!