William Bell Wait

• Married Dr. Phoebe Jane Babcock, M.D. on October 27, 1863 in Potter Hill, Westerly, Washington, RI
• Their children: Lucy Bell, Fanny Stone, Mary Elizabeth, Dr. Oliver Babcock, Phoebe Ann, William Bell Jr., and Amelia Wait
• Occupation: Lawyer, writer, teacher, school superintendent, inventor
• Superintendent of the Institute for the Blind in New York City.
• Founded the American Association of Instructors of the Blind (1871)
• Founded the Society for providing Evangelical Religious Literature for the Blind (1874)
• Inducted 2017 into the Hall of Fame: Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field https://sites.aph.org/hall/inductees/
• https://sites.aph.org/hall/inductees/wait/
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128966535/william-bell-wait
• https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/545108/?offset=0#... Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania - v. 8 (1921-1923) - v. 8, no. 3 (March 1923) pp. 191-193

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Biography

"William Bell Wait (1839–1916) was a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind who invented New York Point, a system of writing for the blind that was adopted widely in the United States before the braille system was universally adopted there. Wait also applied the New York Point principles to adapt them for use in over 20 languages, created a form of New York Point to notate music, and invented a number of devices to better type and print embossed material for the visually impaired.

Wait grew up in New York and attended the Albany Academy and later the Albany Normal College in 1859. Subsequent to graduating he obtained a teaching position at the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind, where he spent two years. He then went on to study under Tremain and Peckham in Albany. He was called to the bar in 1862. He was acting first superintendent of the City of Kingston, N.Y. school district in 1863. In October 1863 he was appointed Principal of the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. He served in this capacity until March 1905. He was subsequently appointed Emeritus Principal and served until his death in 1916.

Wait developed a keen interested in raised letters and tried to devise a tangible printing and writing system. He later developed the New York Point System in which points were used to represent letters or their sound. This system contained "twenty-six capitals, twenty-six small letters, numerals, punctuation marks and short forms for diphthongs, triphthongs, syllables and for words and parts of words in common use." He was awarded medals at the Chilean Exposition and International Exposition in 1873 for these accomplishments.Before his death Wait oversaw the adaptation of his point system to more than twenty different languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese.

He followed his inventions with a tangible musical notation system in 1872. He completed the Kleidograph in 1894. This machine is much like a typewriter which could be used for embossing the raised letters of the New York Point system unto paper. He invented the Stereograph. This machine was used for metal plate embossing, to facilitate bulk printing of books for the visually impaired. He received the John Scott most deserving Medal from the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1900 for his inventions. He later developed a printing press which used a breakthrough process which allowed for embossing on dual sides of a book page. He also formulated more economic and durable methods of book binding, reducing the long-term costs of printing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bell_Wait

He was one of the founders of the American Association of Instructors of the Blind (AAIB) at its first biennial conference in Indianapolis in 1871. He served as AAIB’s corresponding secretary for 44 years. He guided the organization with its advocacy for the creation of many schools for the blind nationally and internationally. AAIB paid tribute to his life in its 24th Biennial Conference in 1918. In the published proceedings, they wrote about Mr. Wait:

“A biography of Mr. Wait would comprise the progress of the education of the blind for almost six decades. So potent a factor was he that scarcely a movement was made for their welfare educationally or socially, for more than half a century, which had not his support and guidance. He was a man of strong personality, tireless energy, capable, and resourceful in all his activities, and he gave to every detail of his work a thoroughness which soon made him a master educator.”

He was instrumental in the development of the American Printing House for the Blind by going to Congress to set aside regular funding.

In 1874 he founded The Society for Evangelical Religious Literature for the Blind and was a supporter until his death. He was a member of the New York Bar, the New York Geographical Society and the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia.

In 1894, the Board of Managers of the New York Institute recorded in the minutes their appreciation for Mr. Wait’s 34 years of service and said of him “such modesty, skill, unselfishness and devotion to duty are rare”.

Endowed with a mind for inventions, combined with knowledge of law and a great desire to improve the lives of people who were blind, his long period of service resulted in many significant benefits to the blind. Wait’s devotion to the field of blindness lives on today and his early advocacy is seen in the areas of educational access, literacy, music and professional development.
https://sites.aph.org/hall/inductees/wait/

• https://www.nyise.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=431301&type=d&pR...
• https://www.antiquetypewriters.com/typewriter/kleidograph/