Navigating Disability in 19th-Century America

The four display cases in this exhibit were curated by members of a combined undergraduate and graduate course on disability history and literature at the University of Michigan to convey what it was like to be disabled in the United States before the modern category of “disability” existed. Together, the artifacts gathered from the Clements Library collections provide a glimpse of the cruelties, triumphs, and intimate acts of care that shaped the lives of people with disabilities in the past.

To attend a guided tour, please see the schedule at httpp.//myumi.ch/Aw9Zb. Additional tour times and open hours will be added.

Curated By: Dr. Ittai Orr and the Students of English 420, Winter 2022, with Maggie Vanderford and Julie Fremuth at the Clements Library

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