This article considers the ways that Enlightenment ideas and practices shaped the founding of the Norwich and Norfolk Institution for the Indigent Blind, and then analyzes the disparate approaches to the aged versus the working-age blind in its first half-century (ca. 1805–55). While we see change over time, we also find distinctive continuity in the ongoing close connections inmates kept with Norwich civic life and family and friends; this was emphatically not a closed asylum. The institution demonstrated consistent commitment to helping its pupils towards self-sufficiency, with optimism about what the blind could (literally) turn their hands to. Nonetheless, the Norwich Institution was disciplinary, actively seeking to produce docile, productive bodies among its blind pupils, both through education and through work habits. Time, labor, and moral discipline increased for pupils over the course of its first half-century, and girls and women were pushed into less economically rewarding work practices. Equally important, while it had an unwavering, humanitarian commitment to providing for the aged blind, its insistent characterization of these inmates as helpless and pitiable limited the potential of the institution to facilitate the well-being of its older residents.

中文翻译：

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在诺威奇和诺福克贫困盲人机构指导年轻人并安慰老年人，约。1805–55

本文探讨了启蒙思想和实践如何塑造了诺维奇和诺福克贫困盲人机构的成立，然后分析了该机构在前半个世纪中对待老年人和工作年龄盲人的不同方法。约1805–55）。虽然我们看到了随着时间的推移而发生的变化，但我们也发现囚犯与诺维奇公民生活以及家人和朋友之间持续的密切联系具有独特的连续性；这显然不是一个封闭的庇护所。该机构表现出了帮助学生实现自给自足的一贯承诺，并对盲人可以（字面意思）将他们的双手转向什么持乐观态度。尽管如此，诺维奇机构还是遵守纪律，积极寻求通过教育和工作习惯，在盲人学生中培养温顺、富有成效的身体。在前半个世纪中，学生的时间、劳动和道德纪律都增加了，女孩和妇女被迫从事经济回报较低的工作。同样重要的是，尽管该机构对照顾盲人老年人有着坚定不移的人道主义承诺，但它坚持将这些囚犯描述为无助和可怜，限制了该机构促进老年居民福祉的潜力。