Florence Bishop Trader (August 19, 1878 — February 22, 1964) was an American philanthropist, founder of Clovernook, a residential training school for blind girls and women, and of the Cincinnati Library Society for the Blind.
Florence Bishop Trader | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 August 1878 |
| Died | 22 February 1964 |
| Known for | Blind philanthropy |
Early life
editFlorence Bishop Trader was born in Xenia, Ohio, the daughter of James Franklin Trader and Elizabeth Jane Duckworth Trader. Both of her parents were born in Ohio. She attended Miss Armstrong's School for Girls in Cincinnati, Ohio.[1]
Career
editFlorence and her sister Georgia Duckworth Trader, who was blind, taught braille classes at the Cincinnati Public Library,[2] and established the Cincinnati Library Society for the Blind in 1901. They expanded this work in 1903 when they opened the Clovernook Home for the Blind,[3] in the home previously owned by poet sisters Phoebe Cary and Alice Cary in what is now North College Hill, Ohio near Cincinnati.[4] Among the major benefactors of their work were Cincinnati mayor Murray Seasongood, and William Cooper Procter, of the family that founded Procter & Gamble.[5] Clovernook soon had weaving and braille printing shops for vocational training and fundraising.[6]
The Cincinnati public schools added provisions for blind students and for preventive vision screenings, as a result of the Trader sisters' work, in 1905.[1] In 1944, the Trader sisters were honored by the American Foundation for the Blind with the Migel Medal for their contributions to improving blind people's lives in the United States.[7] Clovernook Braille Press was printing sixty million Braille pages a year in 1946, including nine monthly magazines, making it one of the largest braille presses in the United States.[4]
Personal life and legacy
editFlorence Bishop Trader died in 1964, aged 85 years.[8] Before she died, in 1958, Clovernook became a nonprofit organization, and continues today as a center for educational, vocational, and recreational services for the blind community of greater Cincinnati.[9] The publishing house at Clovernook continues to be one of the larger publishers for blind readers.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b John William Leonard, ed., Woman's Who's who of America (American Commonwealth Publishing 1914): 822.
- ^ "Clovernook" Cincinnati Enquirer (June 20, 1903): 16. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Carey Homestead Sold; 'Clovernook' to Become Home for the Blind" Evening Star (March 12, 1903): 1. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b Jane Finneran, "At Random..." Cincinnati Enquirer (September 22, 1946): 69. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Appeal Made for Succor of Clovernook" Cincinnati Enquirer (May 8, 1932): 68. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Libby Lackman, "Lady of Light for Blind Dies" Cincinnati Enquirer (February 23, 1964): 6. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Previous Migel Medal Honorees Archived 2017-10-09 at the Wayback Machine, American Foundation for the Blind.
- ^ "Blind Home Founder Dies" Akron Beacon Journal (February 23, 1964): 42. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, "About Us".
- ^ "People Power Drives Vision" Cincinnati Magazine (December 2005): D14.
External links
edit- Florence Bishop Trader at Find a Grave
- Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (official website).