Alameda County
Biographies
JOSEPH SANDERS
Nowhere is the humanitarian spirit of the present age more evident than in the attention given to the welfare of those who are deprived of sight. Schools for their education have been established in every part of the country, and institutions for their manual training have sprung into instant and permanent popularity. One of the most successful institutions founded for their benefit and devoted to their welfare is the Industrial Home of Mechanical Trades for the Adult Blind, which occupies almost seven acres of ground in Oakland, on Telegraph avenue and Thirty-sixth street. When the Home was established in 1885 the grounds and building cost $25,000. From year to year since then there have been additions made to the equipment until at this writing the value of the property exceeds $90,000. The buildings are modern, substantial and adapted to their varied purposes. Surrounding them are beautiful grounds ornamented by flowers and containing broad cement walks.
To a large extent the credit for the building up of the Home from its origin to its present standing as one of the leading institutions of the kind in the United States is due to the superintendent, Mr. Sanders. He was born in the city of New York, January 8, 1849, being a son of George W. Sanders. In early childhood he was sent to the primary schools of his native city, but at the age of eight years his studies were interrupted by a severe attack of scarlet fever. When he had recovered from the disease it was found that his eyesight had been lost permanently. In order that he might have such advantages as were then possible to the blind he was sent to an institution in Philadelphia, where he remained until his graduation in 1869. During his student days he displayed a capacity for teaching and such a cheerful disposition that he was engaged to teach those afflicted like himself. In this way his life work opened up before him. When one realizes how much he has accomplished in the years since his graduation, how many discouraged men and women he has cheered, how many he has uplifted and helped, it affords a revelation of the possibilities which life offers to a man with singleness of purpose.
For thirteen years Mr. Sanders was an instructor in the Home for the Blind in Philadelphia. Early in life he grasped the truth that it is not sufficient for a blind man to have an education. In addition he must have manual exercise to occupy his mind and time. Therefore he devoted himself to teaching the working men the art of manufacturing brooms, brushes, mattresses, hammocks, horse flynets(sic), reseating chairs, etc. Often blind men would come to the home discouraged, longing to die. Soon, under the influence of his sunshiny disposition, they became happy and contended(sic) in their daily avocations. When he came to Oakland on the establishment of the Home he began to instruct the eight or ten inmates in the various kinds of manual work adapted to their condition. The number constantly increased, until there are now one hundred and nine, the majority of whom are men. From 1888 to 1895 he acted as superintendent, after which Mr. Hayes held the position for four years, and then in 1899 he resumed the oversight of the institution, which he has since maintained. Two-thirds of the people in the Home are from California, but many other states in the country are represented. The officers are as follows: John P. Irish, president of the board of trustees; G. S. Meredith, secretary and treasurer; G. H. Derrick, M.D., physician of the Home. In 1902 the earnings of the shop were $19,943.99. During the same year the output was as follows: Eighty-nine thousand eight hundred and forty-one brooms; sixteen thousand two hundred and fifteen whisk brooms; one hundred and seventy-four mattresses; and thirteen hundred and twenty-nine chair bottoms. While the sale of the products was made largely in the California markets, shipments were also made to Australia, Central American and British Columbia.
Transcribed
11-17-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California
by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1394-1395. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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