Navigation Bar ... to the right are several menu selections. Home ... Return to main menu and top of the site Map to select the Home page of this site. Gallery ... Select this button to view a virtual walkthrough of Ivy Green, the birthplace and childhood home of Helen Keller's Birth Home Map to select the first page of the virtual walk though of the Keller home in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Biography ... Select this button to view a fairly brief chronological biography of Helen Keller. Much of this information was taken from a term paper assignment turned in by Sarah Demirha, age 11, from Campbell, California. Map to select the first page of the Biography. Links ... Select this button to view a list of links other Helen Keller sites Map to select the Links Page. Miscellaneous ... Select this button to bring up a menu of additional selections, including Contact information, more information about Ivy Green, including maps, and driving directions, and information about the folks who created this site. Map to select the Miscellaneous Page.
   
 

February, 1882

After an unknown illness, Helen loses both her sight and hearing.

Summer, 1886

The Keller family meets with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, who recommends contacting Michael Anagnos, director of Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston. Captain Keller writes to Anagnos, requesting a teacher for Helen. Anagnos contacts his star pupil and valedictorian, Anne Sullivan, and asks if she is interested in working with Helen.

March 3, 1887

Anne Sullivan arrives in Tuscumbia and begins teaching Helen manual sign language. 

This is a picture of Anne Sullivan at age 15, several years before she went to live with the Kellers. This picture was taken while Anne was a student at the Perkins Institute for the Blind.

Anne Sullivan at age 15

Anne Sullivan was Helen’s private teacher and companion from 1887 until Anne died in 1936.

Although, Anne had very bad eyesight, she was not completely blind, and she had normal hearing.  Several operations on her eyes helped to restore and maintain her vision.

Anne was Helen's principal window to the world. She had to help Helen get around, and had to finger-spell almost all of the non-Braille books that Helen read, and all tests. She also had to help Helen write letters, answer questions, and would interpret for Helen. As Helen would acknowledge in her book, Teacher ... without Anne, there wouldn't have been a Helen.
 
Biography Navigation Bar ... to the immediate right is the Previous Page button and to the far right of the screen is the Next Page button. Previous Page ... Select this button to go back one page in the biography Next Page ... Select this button to advance to the next page of the biography
 
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