Ramsey County History – Winter 2010: “‘Part and Parcel of a Great Cause:’ The St. Paul Society for the Hard of Hearing”

“Part and Parcel of a Great Cause:” The St. Paul Society for the Hard of Hearing
Authors: Kristen Mapel Bloomberg and Leah S. McLaughlin

After providing general information on social clubs and organizations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this article focuses on the group that worked with deaf and hard of hearing people. Two separate organizations, the Lip Readers Guild and the League for the Hard of Hearing were merged in 1936 into the St. Paul Society for the Hard of Hearing. There are short biographies of the board members of the society as well as an explanation of the group’s organizational structure and its various committees. The article includes details on some of the daytime and evening meetings and the society’s strong focus on the learning and use of lip reading, drama club, movies, and other activities. In 1946, the organization changed its name to the St. Paul Hearing Society and again in 1999 to Doorways. Financial problems about this time forced the organization to close.
PDF of Bloomberg & McLaughlin article