Little Paper Family   Tags: deaf, faq, research guide  

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Properly speaking, the "Little Paper Family" (LPF) was an association of the editors of the newspapers and magazines published by the various state residential schools for the deaf, which in 1893 set up the LPF Editorial Association. The Association, however, was a very loose one and seems to have died an unnoticed death during the middle or late 1970s. (Source: Murphy, Fred R. "Little Paper Family-An Unique Organization", Deaf American, v.25 n.8, April 1973, p.11-12.)

More generally, the LPF is usually defined as the group of those newspapers and magazines published by the various state residential schools for the deaf and written and edited mostly or entirely by deaf persons. Although not formally part of the LPF Editorial Association, some national or regional deaf periodicals not affiliated with a school, such as the Deaf-Mutes' Journal or the original Silent Worker, are also usually considered part of the LPF.

The LPF began with the first residential school periodical that appeared in 1849, and went through a "golden age" during the rest of the 19th Century and into the first part of the 20th Century, up through about World War II. The LPF is important as a historical record of deaf people and deaf culture during that period. Periodicals that started after World War II are not considered part of the traditional LPF, though descendents of some LPF publications are still being published today.

Because the LPF Editorial Association lost its original membership roster over a century ago, and never collected dues or did other activities requiring any kind of registration, there is no "official" list of LPF members. The following list of LPF publications has been constructed by surveying Gallaudet University's collection of deaf periodicals, by copying titles that came up in various articles about the LPF in the American Annals of the Deaf, and by noting LPF references to each other (for example, they commonly copied articles from each other, giving credit to the original source).