Unveiling a Legacy: The Helen Keller Time Capsule

Around the corner from the heart of  braille production and product storage, sits a room tucked against the back wall inside the APH building. Inside are floor to ceiling shelves all full of boxes and artifacts wrapped in bubble wrap. Each row of metal shelves contains thousands of documents, each with massive historical significance to the history of blindness. In the front corner sits the desk of Justin Gardner, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Helen Keller Archivist at APH.  

Justin has worked at APH for eleven years and has been the official archivist of the Helen Keller archives since 2020. He spends most of his days sorting boxes, finding materials for those who send in a request, and creating digital files of all archived materials so that they can be accessed by the public. Arguably the most important part of his job is knowing what sits in each box. Justin reads each historical piece carefully to be sure that he understands the string that ties all of it together, ensuring everyone can make sense of the documents in the room. “It’s really like exploring,” said Justin. “I love making connections, seeing the results when I help people, and seeing all of this made public.” 

Helen Keller, who lived from 1880 to 1960, spent most of her life saving letters, papers she worked on, and developing a personal archive of important moments in her life. Thanks to her hard work, the archives today house thousands of documents from Helen’s life. Of those, 280 completely full boxes contain only her general correspondence, including letters to prominent figures in history − from Elenor Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and Douglas MacArthur to Charlie Chaplin and JFK. Justin has read each one. “It’s important to know what makes these things so significant,” he said. 

One item in particular has recently received a lot of attention: a time capsule from AFB. When Justin received the box, along with the rest of the AFB archives, he had no idea what was in store. Inside the brass box were three vinyl records, each covered in a thick black wax. Alongside the records was an arm and needle, used for playing records, a paper card signed by each AFB employee at the time, and a small rectangular mirror. The mirror is engraved with the following: “Directions Concerning Metal Masters: The black wax coating is removed by heating to about 80 degrees Celsius, and cleaning with gasoline. Present phonograph records are molded by heat and pressure. With these masters as disc records, turn 33 RPM. The pickup here is 8000 OHMS Impendence.” 

Justin recognized that the records must have held something important for the creators of this time capsule to go to such lengths to ensure they were preserved and played. After careful research, he made a trip to a record store that specialized in receiving audio footage and producing it to a digital copy. When Justin arrived back to the archives with the digital file, he listened closely to the recording that had been sealed for so many years. To his surprise, the audio contained footage from a celebration of the time capsule’s creation on which Helen Keller herself spoke.  

The importance of Helen’s work in the blindness and low vision field is world renowned and to have footage of her speaking was something Justin knew the world needed to see. “She worked so hard for so long. Her work was groundbreaking, significant, and almost dangerous. I don’t want any of that to be forgotten,” said Justin.  

To celebrate the finding and to share a groundbreaking piece of history with the public, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) will be holding a ceremony in New York City on March 17th. The event will be livestreamed, and anyone who wants to be a part of the unveiling of history, is welcome to listen in.