Mary Smith Garrett

Life & Legacy

Mary Smith Garrett (June 20, 1839 – July 18, 1925) was an American deaf educator. She taught at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania. In 1885, she opened up her own private school to teach deaf children how to communicate effectively. Following the death of her sister, Emma Garett, she became an advocate of teaching deaf children how to speak and to understand speech through visual observations of vocalization techniques.