Happy Helen Keller Day!

Helen Keller Day is a commemorative holiday to celebrate the birth of the famous Helen Keller. However, most people probably don't know her connection to the Mount Washington Valley and the Conway Public Library's Henney History Room. 

The Henney History Room is named in memory of Nella Braddy Henney who was a great friend of Helen Keller. 

 

While we already had number of resources on Helen Keller including a bio of Keller by Nella (see link here). a recent donation from Peter and Joyce Blue has exponentially expanded our opportunity for additional insights.

Included in the donation are a number of photo albums that explore many aspects of the Henney and Keller relationship such as their shared love of dogs. nature and poetry. 

The photo above was taken October 6, 1946. Note that Nella is using hand signals to communicate with Helen.

The caption below the photo reads "NBH (Nella Braddy Henney), Helen Keller, and Polly Thompson in the back dooryard after breakfast shortly before their trip to Europe to study the needs of the post-war blind." For more on this trip see this link here. 

 

The caption goes on to read "In November, while they were in Greece their house in Westport Conn Burned."