As the University’s student population expanded throughout the 1950s and 1960s, so did the services offered on campus, including a local Pennsylvania Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation and a Speech and Hearing Clinic. The Penn State Accessibility map displays campus buildings with various levels of accessibility. Note not only the many that were completely inaccessible, but also those that were “accessible with assistance,” meaning students, faculty, and other community members with physical disabilities remained dependent on others to access buildings such as Old Main and the Recreation Building. 

The featured image of a child’s drawing comes from the Dale Harris papers. Harris was Penn State faculty from 1959-1978 in the Department of Psychology. Harris was a student of Dr. Florence Goodenough who developed the Draw a Man intelligence test. He expanded on her work and is best known for his research and text, Children’s Drawing as Measures of Intellectual Maturity, published in 1963. The test asked children to draw self-portraits, which would then be evaluated for intellectual ability based on level of completion, details, and other factors. The self-portraits provide insight on how children with disabilities selected to represent themselves. While some included obvious markers, like the crutches displayed, other children who were described as physically disabled did not indicate so in their drawings.

Children’s drawings, Dale Harris papers, 417

The Seeing Eye, 1954 General Vertical Files: Students, 389

“Local Rehabilitation Office Established,” The Daily Collegian, October 19, 1961

Penn State Accessibility Map, 1960s, General Vertical Files: Students, 389

“Speech, Hearing Clinic Offers Handicaps Help,” The Daily Collegian, October 30, 1965