September is Deaf Awareness Month
I happened upon this club while searching through our collection of yearbooks. In our 1942 edition of The Ivy, I found a club named Philocophia.
I was scratching my head trying to figure out what the club, Philocophia was about. Searching the Ivy Digital Collection I found the explanation which has been enlarged in the final photo. Philocophia means Friends of the Deaf, although, I was unable to find that translation of the phrase anywhere. The organization was founded by members of the Exceptional Division of education at the Milwaukee Teacher’s College. The group was made up of students who specifically intended to teach children who are deaf. They hosted events with deaf children from the area in order to both promote the development of the deaf community and to give the future teachers experience interacting with children who are deaf.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was the first school in the state to offer Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education programs at the college level. Perhaps, that accomplishment can be traced back to the Milwaukee Teacher’s College and this club. Regardless, I think it’s something that would make the original members of Philocophia proud.
Cameron, Archives graduate intern
Side note: Philocophus was the title of a book written by John Bulwer and published in London in 1648. Bulwer, a physician, was the first person in England to propose educating people who are deaf.