User:Kerrigan Myers/sandbox

Mary Smith Garrett (June 20, 1839 - July 18, 1925) was a deaf educator at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania. In 1885, after teaching there, she opened up her own private school to teach deaf children how to communicate effectively. Following the death of Mary’s sister, she became an advocate of teaching deaf children how to speak and to understand speech through visual observations of vocalization techniques.

Early life
Born June 20, 1839, Mary was one of at least six children from her parents, Henry Garrett and Caroline Rush (Cole) Garrett. Not much is known about Garrett’s early life, but she was born and educated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her father was a businessman. She never married, and never had any children of her own.

Education and work life
Garrett didn’t have any formal training in deaf education. Instead, she was instructed by her sister, Emma Garrett, who gained experience from Alexander Graham Bell.

In 1881, Mary had taught for several years at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. Four years later (1885), Garrett opened her own private school for the deaf in Philadelphia. In 1889, she closed her private school and went to work as a teacher at the Pennsylvania Oral School for Deaf Mutes in Scranton that her sister had established and became the principal for. By 1891, both sisters left Scranton to become founders of the Pennsylvania Home for the Training in Speech of Deaf Children Before They Are of School Age (Bala Home). Emma succeeded as the principal and Mary as the secretary. In 1893, the Bala Home was recognized as a state institution and granted a yearly budget for operation. In the summer of 1893, the sisters had brought their institution to Chicago as a “living exhibit” in the Children’s Building of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Both sisters had stayed in Chicago until Emma took her own life that same year. Mary returned to Philadelphia and took over her sister’s position as principal where she would remain until her own death on July 18, 1925.

Legacy
In honor of Emma, Mary become a leading advocate of teaching the deaf to speak and understand speech through lip-reading. She also became a powerful spokeswoman for oralism through her publications, personal appeals to legislators, and speeches she gave to further her cause. Mary Smith Garrett was also active in other causes for child welfare. She was successful in obtaining a law to be passed in Pennsylvania that requires all state institutions for deaf children to offer exclusive training by the oral method. Garrett became Vice President of the Pennsylvania Congress of Mothers and a leader in the National Congress of Mothers to become chairman of the Department of Legislation, which prompted child-labor law reforms and juvenile court legislation.