Curatorial Statement: Imprinting Sign Heritage Conclusion

Curatorial Statement: Imprinting Sign Heritage Conclusion

In this video project manager Jannelle Legg describes the need to preserve language forms.

Zilvinas Paludnevicius

Drs. John S. and Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center Collection

2022

This Item has been made available for educational and research purposes by the Drs. John S. and Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center at Gallaudet University. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You may need to obtain permission for your intended use if your use is otherwise not permitted by the copyright and applicable related rights legislation. For specific information about the copyright and reproduction rights for this Item, please contact the Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center: https://www.gallaudet.edu/drs-john-s-and-betty-j-schuchman-deaf-documentary-center

American Sign Language

A video featuring Jannelle Legg, a middle-age white woman, standing in front of a historical exhibit displaying images of Deaf schools and Deaf printers.

Despite the widespread use of these signs amongst Deaf printers, they have not been preserved. Prior to the advent of video technologies, sign languages have largely defied documentation. As an embodied, visual-kinesthetic language without a written form, tracing the use of American Sign Language in the past is difficult without access to signers or video recordings of signers. Capturing these signs in “virtual print” documents a trade that was common to predominantly white Deaf individuals from the mid-twentieth century. Documenting these signs is recording cultural heritage that was passed on from teacher to pupil, from parent to child, employer to employee that will remain with us through the Deaf Printers Pages.

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