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Anne Mansfield "Annie" Sullivan (1866-1936) became the teacher of Helen Keller (1880-1968) in 1887 upon the recommendation of Michael Anagnos (1837-1906), director of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind in South Boston, Massachusetts, from which Miss Sullivan had recently graduated.

The letters in this collection were written by Miss Sullivan to Mr. Anagnos between 1887 and 1902 and provide much information relative to Helen Keller's progress in reading, writing, and speaking during her early life in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Included are details of methods used to educate her; the gradual development of her disposition, imagination, and literary abilities; the publication of her first stories (including several letters detailing the plagiarism furor over the "Frost King"); and many remarks on troubling aspects of Helen's home life, such as her mother's inadequacies and her father's financial difficulties.

Also included are Miss Sullivan's instruction schedule; quotations from passages written by Helen; details of their trips to Washington, D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts; and references to the financial affairs of the Perkins Institute. Several letters refer to Miss Sullivan's use of telegraphy as a means of communication with the handicapped, her feelings concerning her contributions as a woman to special education, and her opinions on the education of the deaf.