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Primary sourceBookApril 1883

Upon a Method of Teaching Language to a Very Young Congenitally Deaf Child

Alexander Graham Bell · April 1883

Bell's 1883 article describing his method for teaching language to a very young deaf child.

Bell wrote this article himself, reflecting his lifelong work in deaf education.

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Title page of a printed pamphlet reading 'Upon a Method of Teaching Language to a Very Young Congenitally Deaf Child' by Alexander Graham Bell, Ph.D., Washington D.C., Gibson Brothers, Printers, 1883. Red handwritten 'Bell (Alex. G.)' at top, a library stamp reading 'Surgeon General's Office Library' and a note 'Extracted, by permission, from the American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb.'
Alexander Graham Bell, Upon a Method of Teaching Language to a Very Young Congenitally Deaf Child, 1883.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed pamphlet of an article written by Alexander Graham Bell in 1883, extracted from the American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb. It describes a method Bell developed for teaching language to a very young child who was deaf from birth.

Why it matters

Before his work on the telephone made him famous, and alongside it, Bell was deeply involved in deaf education, influenced partly by his mother and wife, who were deaf. This article shows Bell's direct contribution to the field of teaching language to deaf children, a cause central to his life's work.

Look closer

  • Why might Bell have published this article in a journal about deaf education rather than a science journal?
  • What does the handwritten note and library stamp on the cover tell you about how this document was kept and used?
  • What might this article suggest about Bell's motivations beyond invention?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Alexander Graham on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Artifact

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Recording of the Voice of Alexander Graham Bell

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Handwritten pen sketch labeled 'Fig 4' in a notebook showing a liquid transmitter: a diaphragm labeled B, a cup labeled C in a container, a point labeled P, a battery symbol, and a switch labeled S, with partial handwritten text below.Painting

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Drawing of a Liquid Transmitter, 8 March 1876

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Book

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Memoir Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race

Alexander Graham Bell · 1884

Black-and-white studio portrait of an elderly man with white hair and a full white beard, wearing a dark suit, vest, and tie, looking toward the camera against a soft gray backdrop.Photograph

Primary source

Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell

Moffett Studio

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