J. Robert Atkinson operating the portable Braille writing machine he invented, Los Angeles, California, 1945

Description: 

Photograph. J. Robert Atkinson operating the portable Braille writing machine he invented as actress Olivia de Havilland looks on. Rome, 9/21/1945. Blind man in U.S. invents Braille writing machine. Olivia de Havilland (right), U.S. motion picture actress, watches J. Robert Atkinson, Vice-President and General Manager of the Braille Institute of America, operate the portable Braille writing machine he invented. Mr. Atkinson, who is blind, designed five other models before perfecting the present raised-letter writing machine. Its 150 metallic parts are assembled by blind workers in the institute, located in the west coast U.S. city of Los Angeles. The machine weighs only 11 pounds (4.9 KG.). It is sold to the blind at cost price or loaned to them without charge. On Sept. 15, 1945, the Institute launched a drive to raise funds to provide vocational, welfare and recreational training for blinded U.S. veterans. (D List out) Photo thru U.S.I.S.Rome. 43924- UN –PWW." Los Angeles, California. 21 September 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.685
Date: 
09/21/1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Campaign / Event: 
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Blind persons--California
Braille
Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Isaac "Ike" Bethel Utley, who was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky on 3 March 1920. Ike enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 19 January 1942. He was shipped overseas to the European Theatre and worked with a supply division based out of the city of Naples with an office set up in a residential villa. Utley worked with the Office of War Information and used their photographs in news articles to inform soldiers of the progress of the war. At war's end, Utley returned stateside. A trunk full of over 800 photographs from the O.W.I. arrived on his doorstep from his office in Italy, sender unknown. This collection consists of those photographs.
Geography: 
Los Angeles
Latitude: 
34.050
Longitude: 
-118.233
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Blind persons--California
Braille