Presidential portraits and other Museum artifacts to be relocated

The National Deaf Life Museum closed in May 2024 to prepare for a new exhibition, "We, Native Deaf People, Are Still Here!", from October 2024 to December 2026. As previously reported, the renowned Deaf artist Nancy Rourke is working on a large mural that will cover the west wall of the Museum space in Chapel Hall, as well as a smaller panel on the east wall, above the stage.

One of the first questions people ask when they learn about these changes to the Museum space in Chapel Hall is "Where are the Presidents' portraits going?" There are eight portraits, of Edward Miner Gallaudet (1864-1910), Percival Hall (1910-1945), Leonard M. Elstad (1945-1969), Edward C. Merrill Jr. (1969-1983), Jerry C. Lee (1984-1987), I. King Jordan (1988-2006), Robert R. Davila (2007-2009), and T. Alan Hurwitz (2010-2015). They will be moved to College Hall, to the staircase on the northwest side of the building.

[There are no portraits of W. Lloyd Johns (1983) or Elisabeth Ann Zinser (1988). President Cordano's portrait has not yet been commissioned.]

The first floor of College Hall will be the new home of the "Gallaudet at 150 and Beyond" exhibit and the original artifact cases from the 1870s museum in College Hall. The second floor houses artwork on Deaf pride, the Deaf experience, and the international Deaf community. The various busts that were in the chapel, including one of U.S. President James Abram Garfield, who made his last public appearance at Gallaudet before he was assassinated, will move to the Hall Memorial Building atrium.

Other National Deaf Life Museum exhibits at this time include "Hard Hit: Comparing Pandemics in the Deaf Community" in the Weyerhaeuser Gallery in the I. King Jordan Student Academic Center. All Museum exhibits are also available online.

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