Helen Keller worked for the American Foundation for the Blind for more than 40 years. She was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880, and became deaf and blind at 19 months. Few could have imagined the leading role she would go on to play in many of the significant political, social, and cultural movements of the 20th century. Until her passing in 1968, she worked unceasingly to improve the lives of people with disabilities. As caretakers of Helen Keller's archival collection and legacy, we are honored to share her history with you. Learn more about Helen Keller by exploring her letters, speeches, artifacts, and photographs in the Helen Keller Archive.

Helen Keller and the American Foundation for the Blind's Commitment to Veterans Who Have Lost Their Sight

Thayer Gen Hospital June 1945_72

Helen Keller: Nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize

S. T. Dajani, Chairman of the Arab Blind Organization with Polly Thomson, Helen Keller and a worker at the workshop for the Arab Blind Organization, Jerusalem, 1952

Helen Keller at the United Nations

Helen Keller is 'listening' to a debate at the United Nations. Keller's companion Polly Thomson manually signs into Keller's hand, interpreting the debate, November 1949

As world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly, it is interesting to read the speech that Keller wrote for the United Nations in 1950.

"Dear Friends:

Helen Keller: Our Planet Earth

Helen Keller among cornstalks, circa 1910

As society's focus on the environment has increased it is interesting to note that Helen Keller had a deep respect for the natural world and an innate understanding of the need for a healthy planet. She wrote the following (excerpted here) to Karl Menninger in 1959. Menninger was a leading American psychiatrist and founder of The Menninger Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri.

"Dear Dr. Menninger,

Going Back to School with Helen Keller

Going back to school by Helen Keller 1934

The True Meaning of the Value of Education

by Helen Keller,The Home Magazine September 1934

It is September. Vacation time is over, and the children of the nation are going back to school.

We spend more money on education than any other nation on earth. In the last thirty years the high school enrolment increased fifteen times as fast as the population, and our college students about seven times as rapidly.

Helen Keller's Love of Reading

Color photograph of Helen Keller seated in front of a window. She is reading a book in braille, 1960.

Helen Keller was a voracious reader. She describes her love of reading in her second autobiography entitled Midstream, published in 1929.

Helen Keller's First Experience of the Ocean

Helen Keller as a young girl, seated by a table with a book in her lap. She reads braille text with her left hand and manually signs with her right hand, 1888. Photo courtesy of Perkins School for the Blind

Helen Keller loved the ocean, but her first swimming trip as a young girl took her by surprise...

Helen Keller and Tilly Aston: Beauty in Nature

koala hanging from the branches of a eucalyptus tree Koala in a eucalyptus tree, courtesy of Harry Williamson

By Maribel Steel and Helen Selsdon

Dressed Up, Inspired, Impressed: My Thoughts on AFB’s Helen Keller Achievement Awards

Last night, I had the great opportunity to attend the American Foundation for the Blind's Helen Keller Achievement Awards fundraising gala at the Marriott Downtown in New York City. This was my first opportunity to attend the event, as I was in the area for work. I thought I would share with you my impression of this outstanding occasion.

Helen Keller's Presidential Medal of Freedom

U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1964

"Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."
- Helen Keller

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