''Preservation of the Sign Language'' is a fourteen-minute film, presented without subtitles, featuring

George Veditz George William Veditz (August 13, 1861 – March 12, 1937) was an American educator, filmmaker, and activist who served as the seventh President of the National Association of the Deaf (United States), National Association of the Deaf from 1 ...

, onetime president of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) of the United States, demonstrating in sign language the importance of defending the right of deaf people to sign as opposed to verbalizing their communication. Deafened by scarlet fever at the age of eight, Veditz was one of the first to make motion-picture recordings of

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...

. Taking care to sign precisely and in large gestures for the cameras, Veditz chose fiery biblical passages to give his speech emotional impact. In some of his films, Veditz used finger spelling so his gestures could be translated directly into English in venues where interpreters were present. On behalf of the NAD, Veditz made this film specifically to record sign language for posterity at a time when oralists (those who promoted lip reading and speech in lieu of sign language) were gaining momentum in the education of the deaf. The film conveys one of the ways that deaf Americans debated the issues of their language and public understanding during the era of World War I. In 2010, the film was selected for preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

References

External links

*''Preservation of the Sign'' Language essa

by Christopher Shea at

*
Preservation of the Sign Language complete film
at the

Preservation of the Sign Language
at NAD * ''Preservation of the Sign'' Language essay Daniel Eagan In America's Film Legacy, 2009-2010: A Viewer's Guide To The 50 Landmark Movies Added To The National Film Registry In 2009–10, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2011, pages 10–1

1913 films 1913 short films American silent short films United States National Film Registry films American Sign Language films Articles containing video clips American black-and-white films 1910s American films Films about disability in the United States {{short-silent-film-stub