Gallaudet Memorial facts for kids
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| Location | Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., United States |
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| Designer | Daniel Chester French (sculptor) |
| Material | Bronze (sculpture) |
The Thomas Gallaudet Memorial is a special statue found at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., USA. It was created by a famous artist named Daniel Chester French. This statue shows Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet sitting in a chair, with a young girl named Alice Cogswell standing right beside him.
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Creating the Thomas Gallaudet Statue
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How did this important statue come to be? In 1882, Edward Miner Gallaudet, who was the first president of Gallaudet University, asked Daniel Chester French to create a statue of his father, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. Thomas Gallaudet was very important because he helped start education for deaf people in America.
Why did the statue take so long to make?
It took a while for the project to really get going. There wasn't enough money at first, and Daniel Chester French was a very busy artist. So, he wasn't officially hired to make the statue until 1887.
Was there any disagreement about the artist?
Yes, there was some debate about who should create the statue. Students at Gallaudet University felt strongly that a deaf artist should make the sculpture. They wanted a deaf artist named Albert Victor Ballin to get the job instead of French, who could hear. Another famous artist, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, even suggested Ballin. But Edward Miner Gallaudet decided to stick with French and his original plan.
When was the statue finished and shown to the public?
French started working on the statue after the decision was made. By November 1887, he had finished a smaller model of the statue. In 1888, he worked to make the statue much larger. During this process, he changed some details, like the chair Gallaudet sits on and the position of his arm. For all his hard work, French was paid $3,000. Finally, the Thomas Gallaudet Memorial was shown to the public in June 1889.
