Adelia M. Hoyt (December 3, 1865 – April 1, 1966) was an American librarian, writer, and advocate for blind people.
Early life Adelia M. Hoyt was born near Cedar Falls, Iowa, in a sod house, the daughter of Caroline Mix DeGroff Hoyt and her second husband. Both of her parents were born in New York. She had recurrent fevers in childhood that caused significant vision loss.Guide to the Adelia M. Hoyt papers, University of Iowa Libraries. She attended the Iowa School for the Blind.Adelia M. Hoyt, "Truths by Women Who Know: District Association of Workers for the Blind" Washington Times (September 11, 1914): 8. via Newspapers.com
Career Adelia M. Hoyt was a vocal advocate for self-help by the blind community. "Our most successful workshops and homes have been planned and supervised by sightless persons," she explained, and "every organized effort for the welfare of the blind should have on its board of directors some competent sightless person or persons" to prevent "many a sad mistake." She helped to found the Iowa Home for Sightless Women in Des Moines, and served on its board."Campaign Starts for Home for Sightless Women" Des Moines Register (January 20, 1914): 7. via Newspapers.com She was also president of the Iowa School for the Blind Alumni Association."Blind Adelia M. Hoyt Dead at 100; Helped the Sightless All Her Life" Washington Post (April 3, 1966): B10. via Newspapers.com
Hoyt was a librarian at the Library of Congress's Reading Room for the Blind, beginning as assistant to Gertrude Tressel Rider from 1913 to 1925, and later becoming director of braille transcribing.Byron White, "Those Who See with their Fingers" Washington Post (January 11, 1931): MF5. She and Gertrude T. Rider published Braille Transcribing: A Manual (1925), to guide the volunteer transcribing efforts of the American Red Cross after World War I.Gertrude T. Rider and Adelia M. Hoyt, Braille Transcribing: A Manual (American National Red Cross 1925). In 1930 she testified before a Congressional committee in support of the Pratt Bill, authorizing federal subsidies for braille publishing.Frances A. Koestler, The Unseen Minority: A Social History of Blindness in the United States (American Foundation for the Blind 2004): 124-125, 133. Hoyt retired from the Library of Congress in 1938.
In 1940, she was awarded the Migel Medal from the American Foundation for the Blind for her lifetime of service to the community. Helen Keller presented the award."Adelia Hoyt Gets Blind Help Award" New York Times (June 21, 1940): 26. Hoyt wrote and published a memoir, The Unfolding Years (1950)."Adelia M. Hoyt: Memoir and Photographs" DIY History, University of Illinois Libraries. In 1953, she was honored by the American Association of Workers for the Blind."Adelia Hoyt, 87, Honored for Long Service to Blind" Washington Post (July 15, 1953): 7.
Personal life Adelia M. Hoyt marked her 100th birthday in 1965.Margaret Kernodle, "She Taught Blind to Read" Salina Journal (December 3, 1965): 16. via Newspapers.com She died a few months later in 1966, at a care home in Washington, D. C. A small file of Hoyt's papers is in the collection of the Iowa Women's Archives, University of Iowa Libraries.
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