Anne Thompson MacDonald
Anne Thompson MacDonald was an American philanthropist, founder of Recording for the Blind.
Early life
Anne Hunter Thompson was the daughter of Robert O. Thompson and Frances Walton Thompson. She was raised in the Brooklyn home of her uncle, banker John J. Walton.Career
During World War II, Anne Thompson MacDonald was assistant director of the Nurses' Aide Corps of the American Red Cross. Immediately after the war, she was active in helping released prisoners of war return to home. She was a member of the Women's Auxiliary at the New York Public Library, when she learned about the need for audio books for newly blind veterans of the war. She founded The National Committee for Recording for the Blind in 1948, in New York City, with the motto "Education is a right, not a privilege". She established recording studios in other cities, and oversaw a system involving thousands of volunteers recording, duplicating, cataloging and mailing vinyl records for blind readers.In 1973, she was awarded the Migel Medal by the American Foundation for the Blind. In 1983, the Anne T. MacDonald Center opened in Princeton, New Jersey, as the new headquarters of Recordings for the Blind. In 1988, MacDonald was awarded an honorary doctorate from Yale University, for her lifetime of service.