UW Eye Research Institute
Honoring the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Louis Braille
A small exhibit on the first floor of Memorial Library honors the bicentenary of the birth of Louis Braille, born in 1809 in Coupvray, near Paris, France, and died in 1852 in Paris. The system of printing and writing Louis Braille developed while still in his teens now bears his name and enjoys wide use. The exhibit, on display through mid-September 2009, explores the Braille system and its variants, alternative systems with embossed type, and other technologies such as large-print books and audiobooks.
The library thanks Daniel M. Albert, M.D., past chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and currently Emmett A. Humble Distinguished Director of the Eye Research Institute, for suggesting such an exhibit. Several titles from the riches of the Daniel and Eleanor Albert Collection in the Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, appear in this exhibit. The library is also grateful to Department of Rare Books & Special Collections in Ebling Library of the Health Sciences for the loan of works for the exhibit. Other titles on display come from the circulating collections of Memorial Library.
A title list is available
The image above shows the US Mint Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar (2009), showing Louis Braille on the obverse and on the reverse a child reading a book in Braille, with the word Braille (in Braille code) depicted in a tactile representation. Original article posted at:
http://specialcollections.library.wisc.edu/exhibits/index.html