FCD - National Braille Press

GENERAL INFORMATION

National Braille Press
88 St. Stephen Street
Boston, MA
02115

Operating hours:
Monday - Friday
8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday and Sunday
Closed
Closed on Thanksgiving
and December 25

Tours of the Press:
Monday - Friday,
10:30 am or 2:30 pm
Call to reserve a tour

Phone:
617-266-6160
or toll-free, at
888-965-8965

Web site:
www.braille.com

EVENTS

Events at, or related to National Braille Press, Boston are listed throughout the Cultural District website. Please explore one the website categories and the Calendar in the upper right hand corner of this screen.

National Braille Press is a Boston-based nonprofit printing and publishing house founded in 1927. They have made the Fenway their home since 1946.

Blind Italian immigrant Francis B. Ierardi founded National Braille Press to publish the first braille weekly newspaper in America, fulfilling a dream that blind people might have the tool for good citizenship - current news. This dream expanded through the years, and now National Braille Press is internationally recognized as a leader in braille literacy, with programs designed to bring braille books and literacy materials to adults and children through the United States. These programs include ReadBooks! Because Braille Matters - a partnership to bring braille books, toys, and materials to every family in the United States with a preschool-aged blind child who has the capability to read. All of the Press's book publishing and recent initiatives to strengthen the promotion of early braille literacy are heavily dependent on philanthropic support.

National Braille Press - which last year pressed 15 million pages of braille using special translation software and computer-driven equipment - has been a recipient of the Literary Market Place award, recognizing "excellence and innovation in the publishing arena."

Producing braille books is labor intensive. National Braille Press' braille production and their historic Fenway facilities have benefitted from individual and corporate volunteer involvement over the years. A number of companies in the Boston area have volunteered their staff time for projects such as collating and boxing Harry Potter volumes, assembling book bags for our ReadBooks! program, improving the physical work environment, and other special projects. If you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities, call Justin Byron at 617-266-6160, ext. 28.

National Braille Press is also heralded in national publications as a unique place to visit and tour, because braille production is particularly interesting to experience in person. For a tour, please call Justin Byron at 617-266-6160, ext. 28 to make a reservation. There is no cost and no official minimum age, although children should be at least 6 years old to appreciate the tour best. The tour can last a full hour, and NBP typically schedules them at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.