Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, which operated as the city's primary science and technology museum from 1939 to 1991, was, no doubt, one of the earliest museums to be inclusive with regard to people with one specific handicap: being hearing-impaired.
Buhl Planetarium was the fifth major planetarium constructed in America, the last planetarium built before World War II, and the first planetarium where the Zeiss II Planetarium Projector was placed on an elevator, to allow more flexibility in the use of the Theater of the Stars.
Buhl Planetarium was also the first planetarium theater--and perhaps the first theater of any kind--to install a special sound system specifically designed for the hearing-impaired when it opened to the public on 1939 October 24. This allowed people with hearing impairments to enjoy the planetarium show, along with everyone else.
In the rear of one section of the planetarium were ten one-quarter-inch headset recepticles. People with hearing impairments would be seated in the rear row, next to these recepticles.
There were two types of headsets that could be used by the hearing-impaired: air-conduction and bone-conduction. These headsets were available, at Buhl Planetarium, for loan to the hearing-impaired visitor for each planetarium show. A one-dollar deposit was requested for the loan of the headset; the dollar was returned to the visitor with the return of the headset.
gaw
Glenn A. Walsh
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
< http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
< http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
< http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
< http://incline.pghfree.net >
* Public Transit:
< http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >
--- On Fri, 6/20/08, tara turner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: tara turner <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Inclusion in Museums
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Friday, June 20, 2008, 12:58 PM
> Hello all,I'm a graduate student in the Museum Studies
> programme at the University of Toronto and I am currently
> looking into the ways museums are promoting diversity and
> inclusion through collections, programming, hiring and
> research. If you feel your institution is making a
> contribution in this area, I would love to hear your
> story!Thanks very much.Best Regards,Tara
> _________________________________________________________________
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