The Centenary of Michael Anagnos

The fiftieth Anniversary of the opening of the Kindergarten and the One Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of its founder Michael Anagnos. Proceedings, Thursday May 20, 1937. Michael Anagnos (formerly Anagnostopoulos) was born November 7, 1837 in Papingo, Greece. Anagnos was a trustee and later became the second director of the Perkins School for the Blind (then Perkins Institution) from 1876 until his death in 1906. Anagnos was a friend, assistant and son-in-law to Perkins’ founding director Samuel Gridley Howe. In 1886 Anagnos was contacted by Helen Keller’s parents and recommended Anne Sullivan as a teacher. He served as a mentor and friend to Sullivan, and wrote frequently about Helen Keller’s progress in the Annual Reports. Anagnos was a successful fundraiser and helped establish the first Kindergarten for the Blind in Jamaica Plain, MA in 1887.