Let’s kick off this series with a pin-up image of Mr. Swett in the Flume…
ADVENTURES of a DEAF-MUTE in the WHITE MOUNTAINS ~ by William B. Swett
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This scene comes from Swett’s chapters, “At Work in the Flume” + “Almost an Accident”.
ABOUT THE TEXT:
This comic is based on the original account The Adventures of a Deaf-Mute in the White Mountains by William B. Swett (1874)
From the HHS edition:
The Adventures of a Deaf-Mute in the White Mountains was originally published for the Boston Deaf-Mute Mission.
William B. Swett, 1824-1885, was a deaf-mute born in Henniker of deaf-mute parents. After his marriage to Margaret Harrington, a deaf-mute from Ireland, he moved to Marblehead, Massachusetts. Two of their five children were deaf. Mr. Swett was a founding member of the New England Gallaudet Association in 1854 and was its first secretary. He co-published The Deaf-Mute’s Friend, was a director of the Deaf-Mute Library Association, and was business manager of the Boston Deaf-Mute Mission. He founded a school of industrial arts for deaf adults, which soon added an educational program for deaf children and is now known as the Beverly School for the Deaf. Mr. Swett also had careers as an explorer, showman, mechanic, writer, and artist.
SEE ALSO:
The Henniker Historical Society publishes a pamphlet edition of Swett’s book:
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