Lighthouse History
A Century of Leadership
Founded in 1905 by Winifred and Edith Holt, the Lighthouse quickly became a pioneer in the field of Vision Rehabilitation, and is today a leading resource worldwide in helping people overcome the challenges of vision loss.
Section One: Envisioning the Possibilities
1905
With a borrowed $400 and only their dress allowances, Winifred and Edith Holt lit the Lighthouse lamp. They founded "Lighthouse No. 1" to help people without sight help themselves. The visionary sisters broke down many barriers -- and opened their family brownstone at 44 East 78th Street to all those in need.
A trip to Florence, Italy, a few years earlier proved to be life changing -- for the pioneering Holts and, ultimately, for all New Yorkers. During a concert there, Winifred noticed a group of school children in the audience. They were blind -- and they were enthralled by the music. She learned that a free ticket program provided access to the concert and was inspired to do the same back home. Winifred and Edith established the Lighthouse Free Ticket Bureau in 1903.
The Holts were the very first Lighthouse volunteers. Their contributions -- and those of all who followed -- have been incalculable. The sisters' legacy of volunteerism lives on to this day in our Timothy and Grace Knipe Volunteer Center, which was dedicated in 1999.
Launching a century-old commitment to research, the Lighthouse organized the first census of people who were blind in New York State, totaling 9,585 cases.
Ninety years later, the Lighthouse conducted a nationwide survey, identifying that 13.5 million Americans age 45 and older reported vision impairment in 1995. Within a mere few years, this figure has grown to 16.5 million, and is expected to balloon to 20 million by 2010.
Section Two: Challenging the Status Quo
1906
The Lighthouse was officially incorporated as The New York Association for the Blind, Inc.A home teaching program of counseling and instruction began, marking our first community-based direct service -- the forerunner of today's professional vision rehabilitation services. This program was often staffed by teachers who were blind.
For many years, the Lighthouse has been the State's largest provider of comprehensive vision rehabilitation services, helping people of all ages with vision loss remain active, productive and independent. Our presence in the community remains strong in 2005, thanks to Lighthouse "virtual offices" that enable specialists to travel wherever their services are needed, including the homes of New Yorkers throughout the region.
1907
An original Lighthouse goal was the prevention of blindness, which Winifred undertook personally when she went to Albany to draft a bill making the use of a medical measure at birth mandatory to prevent "ophthalmia neonatorum." The legislation also called for the certification of midwives. In addition, Winifred was responsible for establishing the first lay committee to address prevention as an issue, as well as the New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped.
Prevention of vision loss worldwide -- and of its disabling effects -- remains a primary Lighthouse focus today. We participate in public awareness and collaborative efforts to prevent avoidable blindness on a global scale, such as "Vision 2020: The Right to Sight" campaign.
1908
Edith Holt married Dr. Joseph Colt Bloodgood and moved to Baltimore, leaving the stewardship of the Lighthouse entirely to Winifred. But Edith's dedication to its universal mission was hardly diminished; she founded the Maryland Association for the Blind in her new home state.
1909
The Lighthouse was instrumental in persuading the New York City Board of Education to admit children with impaired vision to public schools for the first time.
This early advocacy effort, ensuring the inclusion of people with vision loss in mainstream society, has been followed by myriad Lighthouse-led initiatives over the years to promote access to rehabilitation services, information, currency, Medicare coverage, readable print, audible pedestrian signals, voting and more.
1912
Almost from the first day the Holts founded the Lighthouse in their parlor, they were inundated with requests from people who were blind to find gainful employment. They met the need by establishing a workshop on East 42nd Street for men to make marketable products, and by opening their home to women to handcraft items. Teachers provided all-important training in workshop, clerical, sales and business skills to thousands of New Yorkers. "Light Through Work" became the Lighthouse motto.
When the need for expanded space -- and additional job opportunities -- arose, the first Bourne Workshop was opened on East 35th Street in 1912, thanks to a donation by Emily Bourne. The workshop grew over time to accommodate more employees and, in 1951, moved to Long Island City and became known as Lighthouse Industries.
From this early seed emerged our current Gertrude Sheva Lum Career Services Program, named in 2003, within the Philip B. Miller Center for Career Services, which was dedicated in 1999. Here, people with impaired vision receive the latest training and access to computer technology needed to take their rightful place in the competitive working world.
The first of several Lighthouse camps for children with impaired vision called the River Lighthouse was opened in Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, NY. The success of this summer program led to expansion and the launch of Camp Munger in Bear Mountain, NY, in 1923.
Today's Youth Services provide children and teens who are visually impaired with a wide range of educational, social and employment experiences year-round to help them achieve success in mainstream schools and, ultimately, the workplace.
Section Three: Bridging Continents
1913
Music was the inspiration for Winifred's life-long work. From the earliest days, music classes were offered and, within less than a decade, our music school was officially founded. It remains an integral part of our professional rehabilitation services services today, and was named The Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School in 2005.
1915
Winifred's mission took her around the world twice. She organized "Le Phare de Bordeaux," the first Lighthouse on the Continent to help soldiers blinded in World War I, followed by others in Paris, Rome, Warsaw, Canton and several in Japan. Winifred's reach extended to the Middle East, India, South America and numerous destinations en route, where "Lighthouse work" was launched.
We continue to share our expertise with professionals across the globe, and have nurtured the development of vision rehabilitation centers in underserved areas of the world, including India, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Hong Kong.
1922
Winifred Holt married Rufus Graves Mather in the Lighthouse Auditorium. At her request, all wedding gifts took the form of donations to her beloved institution. From this point on, Rufus remained by Winifred's side as she crisscrossed the globe, bringing the Lighthouse mission to new frontiers.
1925
A small kindergarten group was formed, followed by the founding of the Lighthouse Nursery School in 1933 -- the first non-residential nursery school for children who were blind in the US, enabling them to stay at home with their families.
By 1967, the Lighthouse opened a child development center, later named the Jean Stralem Child Development Center in 1994. Today, the Center offers an integrated pre-school program where children with impaired vision learn alongside sighted peers in preparation for mainstream schools. Winifred's pioneering vision for integration has remained deeply embedded in Lighthouse philosophy.
Section Four: Expanding Horizons
1940
The Lighthouse Women's Committee had become formally established by this time. A long-time group of dedicated volunteers, whose fund-raising efforts remain essential to continuing the Lighthouse mission today, the Women's Committee emerged from early Lighthouse social clubs. Shortly after the Holts opened their front door in 1905, a club for men who were blind was formed, followed by one for women the next year. Both quickly expanded their membership to include people who were sighted -- as well as their scope to raise money for vital services.
1943
World War II brought significantly increased orders from the Federal government for products manufactured by workshop employees -- as well as countless soldiers newly blinded in need of Lighthouse services.
1945
Our Bourne Workshop contribution to the war effort garnered the impressive Army and Navy "E" Award for Merit. Winifred accepted the award at Carnegie Hall, while Eleanor Roosevelt looked on. This was to be Winifred's proudest moment -- and her last public address.
The "indomitable" Winifred Holt died shortly thereafter, but her extraordinary legacy and limitless "vision" for people without sight continued to live on.
1952
The Lighthouse forged an affiliation with the Ophthalmological Foundation, which became the research arm of the Lighthouse at that time. The Foundation was the first to devote its resources to the research of blindness.
1953
Photograph of a man using low vision lenses to read During the post-war era, the field of rehabilitation services expanded rapidly and, in recognition of the growing need to serve people with partial sight in addition to blindness, the Lighthouse Low Vision Service was founded. This trailblazing service -- the nation's largest low vision clinic at the time -- was dedicated as the Eleanor E. Faye Low Vision Service in 1994. Dr. Faye, a leader in low vision care, pioneered the Lighthouse low vision service model.
1955
The Lighthouse had grown and prospered for 50 years well beyond the expectations of its founders. President Dwight D. Eisenhower congratulated the Lighthouse on its golden anniversary and for serving as "a beacon of hope and a path to self-realization" for thousands of Americans.
Section Five: Forging Partnerships
1962
The Lighthouse merged with the Blind Service Agency of Westchester, enhancing the delivery of services to residents of Westchester County.
1972
The Women's Committee launched the first POSH Sale to benefit our programs and services. This fashion fundraiser has become a long-standing New York City tradition.
1975
We established the first professional training program in low vision care -- the only program accredited by the American Medical Association at that time.
Nearly 30 years later, the Lighthouse's extensive experience in teaching, and in the delivery of low vision care, under the direction of Bruce Rosenthal, OD, spawned the development of online distance learning programs in 2004. Now, a previously unimagined number of professionals and paraprofessionals can receive vision rehabilitation training -- wherever they live.
1981
The Pisart Award was inaugurated to recognize "a person who has made a noteworthy contribution to the prevention, cure or treatment of severe vision impairment or blindness." This annual $30,000 award was made possible by longtime Lighthouse volunteer Madame Georgette Pisart through her will.
1984
Following such outstanding and dedicated Lighthouse leaders as Daisy Fiske Rogers, Marian Held and Wesley Sprague, Barbara Silverstone, DSW, a noted gerontologist, joined the Lighthouse to spearhead the organization. She focused much-needed attention on the growing incidence of age-related vision impairment due to Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma and Cataracts . The next year, we founded the Lighthouse National Center for Vision and Aging to strategically address the service needs of older Americans with impaired vision, and to work collaboratively with professional aging, health and vision networks.
1985
Always breaking down more barriers, the Lighthouse was the first organization of its kind on the East Coast to provide rehabilitation and counseling to people with Aids-Related Vision Impairment.
Sony and Panasonic founded the Vision Fund of America as a volunteer group, bringing leaders in the electronics industry and visual media together to raise money for vital Lighthouse services.
The first Winternight, our dazzling fund-raising gala, began a tradition of honoring leaders in the fragrance and fashion industries, and of raising large-scale support for the Lighthouse mission.
1989
The New York Association for the Blind, Inc., became The Lighthouse Inc., reflecting the deep philosophical shift embraced by the organization -- away from defining people by their disability and toward emphasizing their individual potential.
Winifred Holt always referred to the Association as "Lighthouse No. 1." She went on to found Nos. 2, 3 and so on overseas; while unaffiliated with our Lighthouse in New York City, they're proud to carry the moniker to this day.
Since Winifred's time, "Lighthouse No. 1" has become a leader worldwide in helping people overcome the challenges of vision loss, thanks to a dedicated staff of vision rehabilitation experts. And the strength of Lighthouse specialists has fostered the growth of the profession both in the US and abroad.
Section Six: Shaping the Field
1990
The Lighthouse established the National Vision Rehabilitation Cooperative to champion issues related to vision impairment and vision rehabilitation. In 2004, this cadre of agencies across the country became the National Vision Rehabilitation Association to advance access to professional vision rehabilitation services for all Americans.
The Center for Education, directed by Cynthia Stuen, DSW, was formally established to educate professionals, paraprofessionals, people with vision loss, their families and the general public about vision impairment and the benefits of vision rehabilitation.
1995
We initiated National Vision Rehabilitation Day to raise widespread public awareness of vision impairment and to encourage Americans with vision loss to "take charge of your life with vision rehabilitation!" Today, we celebrate this annual event in conjunction with World Sight Day.
The Lighthouse's long-standing commitment to research was underscored by the dedication of the Arlene R. Gordon Research Institute.
Today, our multidisciplinary research capability remains unique in the field. Lighthouse researchers are dedicated to understanding how impaired vision affects people visually, socially and psychologically. Our findings help people enjoy richer lives at any age. Studies are funded by prestigious organizations, including the National Eye Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging and the AARP Andrus Foundation, among others.
1998
The Lighthouse Inc. became Lighthouse International, in recognition of our global reach -- and outreach -- on behalf of 180 million people who are visually impaired worldwide.
Our international programs, forged under the direction of Mary Ann Lang, PhD, stretch around the world, following in Winifred's footsteps. And our first annual "train-the-trainers" program, which is designed to strengthen the provision of low vision care in areas of the world where resources are scarce, was initiated in Mexico for the Latin American region. Since then, the Lions Club International has fostered the development of these prototypical programs in the Dominican Republic.
New York Lighthouse Vision Rehabilitation Services -- the leading provider in the State -- was created as a division of Lighthouse International.
The Edith and Winifred Holt Society was formed to recognize donors who have linked their legacies with the Lighthouse through their estate plans.
1999
In 1914, Winifred Holt was selected as a US delegate to the International Conference for the Blind in England. But the law of the day dictated that her participation be approved by Congress. In the absence of that authority, President Woodrow Wilson sent a missive to the US Ambassador in London supporting her attendance.
Eighty-five years later, the Lighthouse hosted Vision'99, the triennial international conference on low vision, which attracted the largest, most diverse group of professionals ever gathered for this meeting.
Section Seven: Mapping the Future
2000
The publication of The Lighthouse Handbook on Vision Impairment and Vision Rehabilitation, published by Oxford University Press, defined -- for the first time -- a consolidated field of vision rehabilitation that addresses the full continuum of vision impairment, from partial sight to blindness.
In appreciation of the significant contribution made by the late Henry Grunwald to break the silence barrier and raise public awareness of vision impairment, the Lighthouse established The Henry Grunwald Award for Public Service and named him as the first recipient.
2002
The President's Circle was founded to recognize donors who generously contribute $1,000 or more to the Lighthouse annually.
2004
We received the largest individual commitment for financial support in our history: a gift from The Sol Goldman Charitable Trust of $10 million to name our headquarters The Sol and Lillian Goldman Building. This gift supports our cornerstone vision rehabilitation services for people who are blind or partially sighted in our second century.
We launched the Lighthouse Electronic Vision Rehabilitation Record, a state-of-the-art, computerized system that will create, for the first time, evidence-based benchmarks for successful service delivery -- against which all professional vision rehabilitation services can be evaluated.
The Lighthouse Board of Advisors was created to bring together leaders in diverse industries to share the Lighthouse mission with their colleagues and widen our circle of volunteer supporters.
Similarly, the Young Leadership Committee of professionals under the age of 45 was inaugurated to introduce the Lighthouse mission to the next generation of leaders.
Section Eight: Giving Thanks
Lighthouse International celebrates 100 years of helping people overcome the challenges of vision loss to enjoy productive, active and independent lives.
2005
We are grateful to our dedicated, professional staff, without whose commitment day in and day out the work of the Lighthouse would not be possible.
We are also grateful for the significant contributions that have been made, to date, during this Centennial year to ensure the future of Lighthouse International by:
Visionary Leaders
Robert L. Burch III
The Filomen M. D'Agostino Foundation Corp.
A. Edward Ferris
The Sol Goldman Charitable Trust
Lavelle Fund for the Blind, Inc.
The Estate of Gertrude Sheva Lum
The New York Community Trust
The Saltzman Family
Judy Van Nostrand
Corporate Visionaries
Novartis Ophthalmics
Pfizer Ophthalmics
As we celebrate our rich history, we also look ahead to the next 100 years!
Our timeline includes the names of donors who have provided major philanthropic support to the Lighthouse during our first 100 years. Space restrictions and gaps in archival records prevent us from including every name.
To all of our donors, we offer our deepest thanks for your generosity in sustaining the Lighthouse for a century -- and for helping us to secure Lighthouse International for the next 100 years.
Photo Credits: Ben Asen, Byron Company, Inc. Photographers, Harlan Conti, D'Arlene Studio, Kerriann Flanagan, Jo Fine, Mary Hilliard, James LaBounty, Robert Lisak, Roy Perry, PhotoDisc, Peter Vidor, Tommy Weber