History of British Sign Language
Information about the history of British Sign Language.
Welcome to the History of BSL exhibition catalogue. Please leave us feedback after your visit.
The Beginnings
Sign languages are natural human languages, with their own vocabularies and grammars. They arise wherever Deaf communities come into existence. There is no universal sign language: each community has its own language but these are not manual versions of the spoken or written language used by the hearing communities around them.
BSL is the creation of the British Deaf community and this exhibition traces is history from the earliest references to signing in Britain until the present day - and into the future.
Early Deaf Education
includes historical volumes by
Thomas Braidwood, The Braidwood School
Joseph Watson, London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb
L'Abbé Sicard.
Late 19th-20th Centuries
illustrations and pamphlets
Ash, H. (c. 1890s) Royalty and the deaf, with some striking faces about the deaf and dumb, their alphabet, and a few signs. [Engraving] Herts: Watford. (Action on Hearing Loss library)
William Agnew, Royal Condescension paintings
Ash, H. (c. 1890s) Guide to Chirology [Print] Herts: Watford. (Action on Hearing Loss library).
Late 20th Century Onwards
includes dictionaries, BSL teaching materials and photographs from the BSL recognition campaign.
Selection of Sign Language Dictionaries including BSL, AUSLAN, South African Signs and Maltese Sign Language.
Christmas Carols in Sign, Ill. Pauline Gibson, Interpreted by Bill Gollop & Mervyn Rees, Rank Xerox. (British Deaf History Society)
Dowling, D & J. (1990) Learning Together: ABC: a Fingerspelling Alphabet with Signs for Deaf and Hearing Children. Sheffield: South Yorkshire Printers Limited. (British Deaf History Society).
Fingerspelling
early examples of fingerspelling including
The dumb language or the art of talking with the fingers. [Coloured line engraving] (1644) Published: Bowles & Carver, 69 St. Pauls Church Yard, London. (Wellcome Collection) John Bulwer, Chirologia
Plate with rabbits and manual alphabet. (c. 1860) [Ceramic plate] Manufactured: H. Aynsley & Co. Potteries, Longston, Staffordshire.
Film
Collection of film clips from 1930s-1970s of Deaf Club outings, sports events, church gatherings (the BDA Film Archive project)
Earliest known film of BSL (c. 1927) (DCAL Research Centre)
Slides of various sign dictionaries from pamphlets and Deaf community magazines in late 19th- early 20th centuries.
BSL Timeline
The time line shows important events in the history of BSL, from the first defined use of fingers to create an alphabet to 2010 when the 21st International Congress on the Education of the Deaf, held in Vancouver, Canada passes a resounding resolution that rejects the motions passed back in Milan in 1880.