American School for the Deaf (ASD) in Hartford, Connecticut, was established in 1817 by Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc (then called the American Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb). Since ASD was established as a residential school, the Deaf students who lived there created a new linguistic community as local, regional sign languages from around the country mixed with the French Sign Language taught by Clerc and led to the development of ASL as a language in its own right. The community that formed at ASD was such a successful intellectual community that other Deaf institutes began to open around the country anywhere there was a large enough Deaf population. This allowed the Deaf community to establish its own subculture, separate from the mainstream hearing culture, and develop as a linguistic minority. The rise in Deaf institutes around the country led to an increase number of educated and literate Deaf individuals. This led to the development of ASL storytelling traditions in Deaf institutes. During the early days of Deaf education, ASL had not yet been recognized as a fully developed language, and therefore was not considered a suitable language modality for literary composition. This resulted in many Deaf individuals writing works in written English, which was the primary language of instruction at the time. At the same time, ASL literary forms were beginning to develop as the Deaf community began to tell each other stories in their own vernacular. This includes works translated from English into ASL as well as original narratives.ASL stories spread across different regions in America when different Deaf institutes gathered for events, such as sports. This process allows budding storytellers to practice their craft in front of new audiences. Following their school years, Deaf community members from different schools may see each other again at Deaf community gatherings, where storytellers may be called on to perform their narratives. Earliest film recordings of ASL literature Despite the success of Deaf education during the first part of the 19th century, by the 1860s the education system saw a shift in which the hearing community began to introduce the Oral method of educating Deaf students, which emphasized a speech-only approach to education and did not allow ASL in the classroom. The primary belief at the time is that this would help Deaf individuals integrate into society more easily. In 1880, a conference was held in Milan