Unosuke Kawamoto, who contributed to the development of special education in Japan, has given his attention to the school library of Perkins Institution for the Blind. The objective of this study is to clarify the establishment and expansion of the school library at Perkins Institution for the Blind, which attracted the attention of Kawamoto. This institution has had a school library since its inauguration, but the number of books in the early days was only 3. In order to make up for the deficiency of books, a printing office was set up in the institution, and printing and publishing were also conducted. This school library pioneered in being open to local residents and in having a traveling library in the United States from the 1840s, and thus contributed to the improvement of the reading environment for visually-impaired people. This school library has developed further since the 1880s. Factors in this development include the employment of full-time librarians, the establishment of a foundation, the introduction of Braille books, and the remodeling of school functions. Through such efforts, this library has developed to become the largest school library for the blind in the United States.
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