Indiana Deaf History Museum

06/28/2025

History in the making! Congrats to Kim Kause for being selected as ISD's new superintendant! FIRST woman in ISD's 180+ years to hold the title!

The Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD) School Board is proud to announce the appointment of Kimberly Kause as the new Superintendent of ISD, effective July 1, 2025.

Kim brings a strong commitment to student-centered leadership and a vision for academic excellence, community engagement, and continued growth for Indiana’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. With her background in education and passion for inclusive learning, the Board is confident that she is the right leader to guide ISD into a new era of innovation and success.

"We are excited for the vision and leadership Kim brings to our school," said the ISD School Board Chair, Kelly DiBenedetto. "Her dedication to the Deaf community and her willingness to take on this important role inspire great confidence. We are grateful for her commitment and look forward to the future of ISD under her leadership."

Please join us in officially welcoming Kimberly Kause to the ISD family.

-Kelly DiBenedetto, School Board Chair

05/29/2024

We are very excited to receive a donation of a rare individual photo of a former ISD student from the 1800s! Thanks to Family Treasures Found, we now have this lovely photo of Addie Payne. Addie was born in 1876, and registered at ISD at the age of 10 in 1886.

05/21/2024

Good morning everyone! We have a museum mystery that needs to be solved. Can anyone help identify who wrote this news letter at ISD?

Facts from the letter:
1. Student was in Miss Mader's class in 1969
2. Classmates named Danny, Dennis, and Larry
3. November birthday and had a class party with chocolate cake

06/30/2022

Hello everyone!

We are doing research about the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf, and want to connect with former members of the Indianapolis Divisions 22 and 153. There was also Division 102 in South Bend, and Division 104 in Fort Wayne. If anyone has stories, photos, or memoribilia, please contact the museum director: Kris Johnson
[email protected]

Thanks!

06/29/2022

Hello! The museum's online archive has a new collection of ISD newsletters and various reports from 1990s-2000s. You can read oine, or dowoad/print for later. Many more will be added to the collection this summer.

Enjoy!

This collection contains various publications created by ISD, or for ISD. It includes daily bulletins, topical reports, handbooks, etc.

06/27/2022

Does anyone have an extra copy of this book for donation to our museum?

National Fraternal Society of the Deaf
"Celebrating a Rich Heritage 1901-2001"

01/12/2022

DHHYAVP

10/13/2021

Items from the "mystery box" we opened last week!

Booklets, gavels, and officer badges of the Indiana Chapter of the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf!

10/07/2021

Hello everyone! This page has been quiet, and the museum has been closed because of covid-19.

But good news! We will open and have new exhibits in January!

One of the topics that you will see in the new exhibits is the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf. The museum has a large collection of artifacts from the Indiana chapter of NFSD, and we're excited to display them soon!

We also have these two mystery boxes that we're opening today. Next week, we'll post some pics of what we find inside!

08/13/2021

In this new digital series, Musician and disability inclusion advocate Lachi explores the cultural contributions of people with disabilities and how they transformed America. Help us shape the series by taking this survey after you watch: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6D55SZ2 Kitty O’Neil (1946-2...

04/19/2021

Hello everyone! I know this page has been quiet for a while, but we've been doing a lot of "behind the scenes" work to make a new digital archive. We now have four "Special Collections" available online: Raymond Nelson Collection, ISD Basketball, ISD Student Clubs, and The Silent Hoosier. There are MANY more that we will continue to add, so please be patient and enjoy browsing these! We'll let you know when new collections are created.