Miss-Delectable
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Deaf school to display Frederick area history
When The Maryland School for the Deaf opened in 1868 in the Hessian Barracks – two Revolutionary War-era buildings that served as a hospital during the Civil War - the school was instantly entwined with Frederick’s history.
In the fall of 1868, the first class of 54 students stocked shelves with soldiers’ leftover books and saved the men’s hospital discharge papers for history.
Starting Monday, these historical items and other pieces documenting the school’s history will be on display for the public at The Maryland School for the Deaf’s new Bjorlee Museum, located on the school’s campus.
The Bjorlee Museum’s origins date to 1872, when the school’s principal at the time, Charles W. Ely, formally set aside room in the library for a museum that teachers could use for educational instruction. According to Chad Baker, deputy superintendent at The Maryland School for the Deaf, Ely invited the Frederick community to donate items to the fledgling museum and residents responded. Wealthy Frederick families, such as the Trails and Schleys, donated books, while others contributed science equipment and fowl taxidermies.
The museum’s namesake, Ignatius Bjorlee, was principal at The Maryland School for the Deaf from 1918 to 1955. These and other historical artifacts found a permanent home last summer in the school’s vacated library building, the Bjorlee Library, built in 1954.
The Maryland School for the Deaf also received grants for the museum from the Delaplaine Foundation, Frederick city and The Community Foundation of Frederick County Inc., Baker added. ‘‘It’s been a community effort, which I like,” he said last week.
When The Maryland School for the Deaf opened in 1868 in the Hessian Barracks – two Revolutionary War-era buildings that served as a hospital during the Civil War - the school was instantly entwined with Frederick’s history.
In the fall of 1868, the first class of 54 students stocked shelves with soldiers’ leftover books and saved the men’s hospital discharge papers for history.
Starting Monday, these historical items and other pieces documenting the school’s history will be on display for the public at The Maryland School for the Deaf’s new Bjorlee Museum, located on the school’s campus.
The Bjorlee Museum’s origins date to 1872, when the school’s principal at the time, Charles W. Ely, formally set aside room in the library for a museum that teachers could use for educational instruction. According to Chad Baker, deputy superintendent at The Maryland School for the Deaf, Ely invited the Frederick community to donate items to the fledgling museum and residents responded. Wealthy Frederick families, such as the Trails and Schleys, donated books, while others contributed science equipment and fowl taxidermies.
The museum’s namesake, Ignatius Bjorlee, was principal at The Maryland School for the Deaf from 1918 to 1955. These and other historical artifacts found a permanent home last summer in the school’s vacated library building, the Bjorlee Library, built in 1954.
The Maryland School for the Deaf also received grants for the museum from the Delaplaine Foundation, Frederick city and The Community Foundation of Frederick County Inc., Baker added. ‘‘It’s been a community effort, which I like,” he said last week.
