Tag Archives: Institution Royale des Jeunes Aveugles

Cold cases: The snake-oil salesman and the thief

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Parisian Fields

Let it never be said that archival research is dull. My recent forays into the archives at the Institut national des Jeunes Aveugles uncovered a crime nearly 200 years old, and a con man who exploited a legal loophole to … Continue reading →

Posted in History of the blind, Paris crime, Paris history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

How blind people learned to write: the truth can be told

Posted on June 20, 2021 by Parisian Fields

Exactly 200 years ago, in June 1821, a crucial experiment was taking place in a school on the rue St-Victor in Paris. The school was the Institution Royale des Jeunes Aveugles (the Royal Institution for Blind Youth) and the students … Continue reading →

Posted in Charles Barbier, History of the blind, Paris cemeteries, Paris history, Paris museums | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Le Musée Valentin Haüy: A different vision of history

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Parisian Fields

This is no ordinary terrestrial globe. And you’ll find it in a museum that is anything but ordinary. When we move in closer, we find that it is labelled in Braille. And the map shown below is not your average … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris history, Paris museums, Paris typewriters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments