Records of the International Sunshine Society, Department of the Blind

Cynthia May Westover Alden (1862–1931), who wrote for the New York Recorder and New York Tribune, began with fellow journalists about 1896 to send Christmas cards to shut-ins. The group organized itself as the Sunshine Society to continue and expand on the practice. Incorporated in 1900 as the International Sunshine Society, the charity sought "to bring the sunshine of happiness to the greatest possible number of hearts and homes." The Society extended its work to the care of sightless children, whose education during the early years of the twentieth century was usually neglected since their blindness was often confused for mental deficiency. The International Sunshine Society's Department (originally Branch) of the Blind was created in 1904 and separately incorporated in 1905, with poet, composer, and humanitarian Mary C. Seward (1839–1919) as president. The Department ran several homes for "blind babies" (i.e., minors), such as the Dyker Heights Home for Blind Babies (opened 1906) at 1255 84th Street, Brooklyn, and the Arthur Home for Blind Babies (opened 1909) at Pine Grove Avenue, Summit, New Jersey. The homes served as combined nurseries, hospitals, and schools. In 1907 the Dyker Heights Home, under the aegis of the New York City Board of Education, hosted the first publicly-run kindergarten for blind children in the United States.