J. Schuyler Long

Joseph Schuyler Long (1869 – October 31, 1933) was an educator, author, and principal. He taught deaf children and authored the first standard picture dictionary of sign Language after becoming deaf himself as a child. He also wrote a book of poetry titled Out of the Silence.

J. Schuyler Long
Long demonstrating sign language in his book
Born
Joseph Schuyler Long

1869
Marshalltown, Iowa
DiedOctober 31, 1933(1933-10-31) (aged 64)

Biography

Joseph Schuyler Long was born in 1869 to William and Lucy Perry Long in Marshalltown, Iowa. In 1881 Long became deaf from cerebrospinal meningitis. He entered the Iowa School for the Deaf and graduated in 1884 and entered Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C.

In 1889 he became a teacher of the deaf and an athletic director at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf. He received his degree from Gallaudet College in 1895. In 1901 he was a head teacher at the Iowa School for the Deaf and an editor of the school periodical, The Iowa Hawkeye (the mascot later changed to the bobcat). In 1902 he was made acting principal and in 1908 full principal.[1]

He published the dictionary The Sign Language. A Manual of Signs in 1909.[1] The Schuyler Long Collection at Gallaudet College includes the original 32 photograph plates used in the first edition of his Sign Language dictionary, it was the first standard picture dictionary of sign language and has been referred to as "The Deaf man's equivalent of Webster's Dictionary".[1]

In 1914 Long received a Doctor of Letters Degree from Gallaudet College. In 1928 he began work on an anthology of poems by deaf authors. On October 31, 1933 he died from heart failure at the age of 64.[1][2] "at his home at the Iowa School for the Deaf, Council Bluffs... [and] [b]urial was in Riverside Cemetery, Marshalltown."[3]

Legacy

In 1960 The Silent Muse Anthology, of his collected works was published.

Long's daughter, Dorothy Long, married Professor William Hertzog Thompson, and through Dorothy's daughter, Susan Thompson Buffett, Long was the grandfather-in-law of billionaire investor, Warren Buffett.

Bibliography
  • The Sign Language: A Manual of Signs 1909
  • Iowa School for the Deaf at Council Bluffs: Its history, growth and development (Unknown Binding) 1910
  • Out of the Silence. A Book of Verse 1923
  • The Silent Muse: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry by the Deaf 1960

References
  1. "J. Schuyler Long timeline". Gallaudet University. Archived from the original on 2010-08-16. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
  2. "Papers of J. Schuyler Long". Gallaudet University. Archived from the original on 2006-09-01. Retrieved 2010-06-18. J. Schuyler Long has been noted as an outstanding teacher and accomplished writer of both poetry and prose. Among his publications are "Out of Silence", The Silent Muse Anthology, as well as numerous articles which he contributed to professional papers. One of his most significant contributions was the book, The Sign Language: A Manual of Signs, published in 1909. This was the first standard picture dictionary of Sign Language, and has been referred to as "The Deaf man's equivalent of Webster's Dictionary".
  3. The Annals of Iowa, Volume 19 Number 3 (Winter 1934), p. 238
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