Deaf Linotype Operator (not deceased, please)
I’ve always have had a fascination with the deaf Linotype operators ever since I watched the documentary on the Linotype. So the deaf man in the documentary has since passed. Any still alive (slim chance I know) AND/OR where could I find more information on deaf Linotype operators? Many were presumably in organized newspaper unions…are there old union newsletters/newspapers with sections especially for the deaf? I’m also trying to find out how many Linotype operators went to the silent films….the first caption ed films. Eager to hear your input. I’ve already put queries to the deaf universities, including Gaulaudet, but didn’t get much information back. I also searched through newspapers.com with help of a librarian. Not much there either.
Anyhow, just a cochlear implant so I’m really eager to learn about this topic especially as I go back to watching silent films accompanied by a Wurlitzer organ.
You might try Rochester Institute of Technology because the National Technical Institute for the Deaf is there, and they have a strong printing program, ( or at least they did when I went there in the early 1970’s). At that time there was a working Linotype for us to practice on, although I can’t recall if any deaf students were involved.
Linotype operators would have been in the ITU, the International Typographical Union.
In the ’70s, we went on a field trip to the local newspaper agency, where big web presses printed two local papers. We were told many of the pressmen were deaf, unbothered by the noise, and able to communicate with sign language where it was too loud to hear a word. Web Pressmen had their own union.
I have worked around deaf Linotype operators, they do the work without having to put up with the noise of the Linotype or other equipment in the are.
As an ex-Linotype operator, the machine at times makes a lot of noise that takes your mind off reading the copy you are setting.
I have worked around deaf Linotype operators, they do the work without having to put up with the noise of the Linotype or other equipment in the are.
As an ex-Linotype operator, the machine at times makes a lot of noise that takes your mind off reading the copy you are setting.