1879.05.12 English

[1] SA: Johan Keller (1830-1884) was founder of the ‘Keller Institutes’, dedicated to the education of what was at the time called the ‘imbeciles’ and the deaf-mute. At times Keller and RMH cooperated well, but conflicts between  them also occurred.  They were in a state of ‘competition’ in relation to the pupils, because the Keller institutes had an ambition to accept as many pupils as possible, this being linked to increased governmental financial support. In 1867 they reached an agreement according to which the totally deaf pupils were to be educated at the RMH Institute, while the partially deaf as well as the ‘imbeciles’ were to be referred to the Keller Institutes. Nevertheless, RMH felt that Keller did not respect the agreed partition, and throughout the 1870s and 1880s there was constant friction between them. RMH was at all times a zealous supporter of the government  assuming responsibility for the private institutions and, in that process, submit all educational institutions for the deaf to a common comprehensive plan. As the letter shows, Keller was adept at marketing and garner support for his plans, and in 1880 he was granted a major governmental loan for the financing of a completely new school for the deaf-mute, “School for the deaf, based on the so-called ‘oral method’, situated in Baldersgade. Around the same time the authorities approved RMH’s proposal to establish a new government institute for the deaf-mute, leading to the foundation of  the Fredericia institute  in 1880. With hindsight, it does seem as if the authorities did not want to make up their mind whether they wanted to support governmental sponsorship of the institutes, or whether private interests should be allowed to continue establishing their own schools. Not even when Keller died suddenly in 1884, and his widow, his son and his brother applied for permission to continue running his institutes did the authorities make up their mind. A decision was taken only in 1888 with the appointment of a committee mandated to present a bill concerning the organization of education for the deaf-mute in Denmark. RMH headed the committee together with his old friend Georg Jørgensen (1838-1905) , principal of the Fredericia Institute. It was to no-one’s surprise when the committee proposed that the Government take over the Keller Institutes; this was decided in ‘Folketinget’ (Parliament), and simultaneously it was decided to establish yet another institute at Nyborg. At the same time Folketinget passed an overall plan for all schools for the deaf, according to which all pupils were to be enrolled initially at a pre-school in Fredericia, subsequently being channeled after one year to  the various schools and institutions in order to receive an education as much as possible adapted to their individual auditive and cognitive capabilities. This thinking was very foresighted and visionary for its time, and Denmark was a leading country in this field in Europe.

[2] SA: Hans Jensen Lassen (1849-1911; later assuming the name of Ketting) was at the time one of the teachers of the Royal Institute for the deaf-mute. He was later appointed principal.  Seen from our present day perspective it would seem a somewhat odd procedure for a school teacher to publish new proposals regarding his school in the press, without this being cleared beforehand with his superiors. Further information about Principal Lassen can be found on his descendant's website: http://www.ketting.dk/hvem.html .

[3] SA: Berlingske Tidende, one of the most important Danish daily newspapers at the time and still today. It does seem a peculiar procedure  to carry on extended and heated discussions in full public limelight in the media about issues that seem to belong to internal meetings and conferences.

[4] SA: RMH demonstrates in this letter that at times he could certainly be a placating and conciliatory mediator. Otherwise he was known for his irritable nature and at times could become rather hotheaded when things turned against him. In such situations he could become rather unreasonable, blowing up other people’s injustices into enormous proportions and simultaneously reducing his own into a molehill, as stated in the centenary book about the Institute for the Deaf-Mute, published by Goos in 1907.