Braille

Verna Bell talks about working as a stereograph operator at the American Printing House for the Blind from 1957 until her retirement in the 1970s. She describes stereotyping and correcting braille printing plates for use on the presses. She also talks about making hand drawn illustrations for tooling, and about APH recreational activities.

Hilda Caton talks about her work in the Educational Research Departmetnt at the American Printing House for the Blind, beginning in 1970 through the 1980s. During this time, she supervised research for and development of several braille projects, including field testing and evaluation. She talks about the Patterns: Primary Braille Reading Progam, developed with her associate Eleanor Pester, another braille specialist in the department, and about the standardization of braille codes.

Waunda Cox talks about her work as a tactile graphics tooler, braille transcriber and copyholder at the American Printing House for the Blind. She discusses new technology used in braille and tactile graphics production, including the use of computers and the PEARL (Plate Embossing Apparatus for Raised Lines), and use of the carousel table in colating. She also describes breaktime in the APH cafeteria, and the 1988 Teamsters Union strike.

Mary Crawford talks about her work as a press operator in braille and large type production at the American Printing House fror the Blind, the machinery and changes in processes, and her work in the company's ATIC (Accessible Textbooks) Department, where she operated Braillos and binding equipment for textbook production until her retirement in 2006. She also describes the use of the PEARL machine for production tactile graphics, and of the TED (Text Embossing Device) and PED (Plate Embossing Device). Crawford also recounts her experiences as a Teamsters Union member during the strike of 1988.

Loretta Curry talks about working at the American Printing House for the Blind from 1970 until her retirement in 1999. She describes braille bookbinding, silk screening, braille typesetting, making page layouts for large type books, and using a Heidelberg press. She mentions assisting with the Patterns series in the Educational Research Department.

Loretta Devore, a 2007 retiree of the Americvan Printing House for the Blind, describes the various jobs that she held while working for the company. These include the production of braille books covers and labels, collating of printed materials in the Large Type Department, container production, and the manufacturing of various educational aids, including the Sense of Science series.

Mary Lee Frye, retired APH copyholder, talks about working at the American Printing House for the Blind from 1968 to 2004. She describes working APH Braille Production with braille proofreaders and talks about running a proofing press when she first joined the company.

Fred Gissoni talks about working at the American Printing House for the Blind as a customer service specialist. He joined the company in 1988 as the first technical support representative to APH customers and, in 1993 developed and organized Customer Service, which later became part of the Customer Relations Department, later called the Customer Service Department. He also describes "Fred's Head" -- an APH online database of blindness tips and techniques that is named for him -- and discusses the PortaBraille, which he helped develop at the Kentucky Department of the Blind prior to joining APH in 1988.

Betty Hardin, retired APH Tape Duplication Supervisor, talks about her work at the American Printing House for the Blind. She describes manufacturing processes for Talking Book production from 1967, when she started working at APH, until 2004, the year of her retirement. She describes hard record pressing, tape duplication of both open-reel and cassette tapes (2-track and 4-track), mastering, and cassette labeling. She also mentions the APH softball team and bowling league of the 1970s and briefly discusses the Teamsters Union.

Theodore (Ted) Herps talks about working in the Machine Shop at the American Printing House for the Blind from 1952 until his retirement in 1993. The Machine Shop maintained plant machinery and also made braille saltes. Herps talks about working on parts for the Lavender Braillewriter and describes the use of a Banbury mixer in the production of talking books.