Kate and Josh Bayer Papers and Photographs, 1974-1991
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Kate and Josh Bayer Papers and Photographs
- Creator
- Bayer, Josh
- Creator
- Bayer, Kate
- Collection Number
- MSS 1284
- Extent
- .25 Linear Feet 1 box
- Date
- 1974-1991
- Abstract
- A native of Mt. Pleasant, Pa., Kate Hoke Bayer spent her life dedicated to individuals with disabilities in Western Pennsylvania. Bayer was a proponent of teaching life skills and giving people with disabilities access to living the most independent lives possible. The start of her career intersected with the rise of the Disability Rights Movement. Her husband Josh Bayer was a historical reenactor for the Friends of the Fort Pitt Museum, representing both the Royal American Regiment and the Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia. The Kate and Josh Bayer Papers and Photographs documents the experiences of Kate Bayer as a special education teacher as well as Josh Bayer's involvement with the Friends of the Fort Pitt Museum as a historical reenactor. Photos in the collection document her Kate's early experience as a special education teacher in Clarion.
- Language
- English .
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
-
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Conditions Governing Access
Digitization and publication of student images are restricted for 75 years beyond creation.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Josh Bayer in 2021. Archives Accession 2021.0166.
Biographical / Historical
A native of Mt. Pleasant, Pa., Kate Hoke Bayer spent her life dedicated to individuals with disabilities in Western Pennsylvania. She was born in 1950 to Ella Jane Hoke and Samuel Eugene Hoke Jr. and grew up in Mount Pleasant, Pa. Bayer had a second cousin diagnosed with Down Syndrome, but otherwise did not have much exposure to people with disabilities in her youth.
Kate Bayer graduated with a degree in Education from Clarion University, intending to become a social studies teacher. Her first teaching job, however, was teaching a class of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Mifflintown, Pa. Following a year of teaching this class, Bayer returned to Clarion and pursued a degree in special education, studying under Dr. Kenneth Vayda. During her studies, she spent nine months working on implementing early intervention measures and teaching school-age children at Polk State Center, an institution for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Venango County. Her assignment to Polk Center followed the 1972 Pennsylvania judicial decree which she witnessed treatment she considered inhumane. Her assignment to Polk Center followed the 1972 Pennsylvania judicial decree which guaranteed–for the first time–the "Right to Education" for children with disabilities. At Polk, she witnessed treatment she considered inhumane.
Kate Bayer worked as a special education teacher for the Intermediate Unit in a classroom located at Clarion Elementary School during the 1974-1975 school year. Bayer greatly enjoyed working with these students, many of whom were diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Other students may have had autism, though that term was not commonly used at the time.
Following a move to the Pittsburgh area, Bayer worked for a year with students with learning disabilities in Plum Borough, Pa. Bayer then stepped away from working to have her children, returning to the workplace in 1985. She worked as a direct care worker and instructor at an Allegheny East MH/MR day program for adults with developmental disabilities located in Oakmont, Pa. After five years, Bayer moved into case management for Allegheny East MH/MR.
Committed to ensuring that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were treated with dignity and respect, Kate Bayer went on to work in community-based services for people with disabilities for 28 years. In addition to supporting education and community-based housing, Bayer also advocated for supported employment of individuals with disabilities. Bayer's lifelong career impassioned her to advocate for independent living for people with disabilities and teaching people skills in order to enhance their lives. She began as a direct care professional and retired as Director of Development and Marketing for Allegheny East MH/MR (now Milestones Centers, Inc.). Kate Hoke Bayer married Josh Bayer and had two daughters, Leah and Rachel.
Kate Bayer, a long-time resident of the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, passed away in March 2021 at the age of 70.
Josh Bayer was born to James Edward Bayer and Charlotte Elizabeth Carlson. He and his family were members of the Jewish community in McKeesport, Pa. James Edward Bayer owned a pharmacy in McKeesport. Josh Bayer completed a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a Master of Arts in Communications from Clarion University. Josh worked his entire professional career with Mine Safety Appliances, serving as Supervisor of Video and Multimedia Production.
Josh Bayer served as a historical reenactor with the Friends of the Fort Pitt Museum beginning in 1977. He was recruited due to his interest in fencing and history. In this role, Bayer represented both the Royal American Regiment and the Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia. With fellow reenactors, he performed in events nearly every weekend at various Western Pennsylvania French and Indian War historic sites from Memorial Day through October. This group also partook in assemblies and encampments every Spring after drilling weekly at a National Guard site on Route 51 beginning early each year. He participated in reenactments through the late 1970s and 1980s and into the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was present for an accidental cannon explosion at a reenactment organized by the Friends of the Fort Pitt Museum at the Point in April 1981. As a result of this explosion, several people were injured. Throughout his involvement with the Friends of the Fort Pitt Museum, Bayer became a leader in his reenactment groups, notably acting as first lieutenant, as addressed in the 1982 Sunday Tribune article.
Preferred Citation
Kate and Josh Bayer Papers and Photographs, 1974-1991, MSS 1284, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center.
Processing Information
Processed by May Higginbotham in 2022.
Related Materials
Oral history of Kate Bayer, Special Education Teacher, Polk State Center, early 1970s, Western Pennsylvania Disability History and Action Consortium Voices of Change multimedia series, conducted November 28, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k22VU7yvMvU
Scope and Contents
The Josh and Kate Bayer Papers and Photographs consist of prints and color slides documenting special education teacher Kate Bayer interacting with students in her class run by the Intermediate Unit at Clarion Elementary School in the fall of 1974. Most of the students were diagnosed with Down Syndrome and there were also some students who may have had autism, though that term was not commonly used at the time. Josh Bayer took the color slide images of Kate and her students in 1974-1975 for a course while he was a photography student.
The collection also contains photographs, training materials, and films related to Josh Bayer's time as a historical reenactor with the Friends of the Fort Pitt Museum. Included is a film recording shot by Douglas Wagner of an accidental cannon explosion in April 1981 at a demonstration at the Point a well as KDKA footage of the Royal American Regiment reenactments.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Copyright may be retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.
Subjects
- Fort Pitt Museum (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Polk Center (Pa.)
- Clarion Elementary School (Clarion, Pa.)
- Clarion University (Clarion, Pa.)
- Mine Safety Appliances (Cranberry Township, Pa.)
- Milestones Center, Inc. (Monroeville, Pa.)
- Bayer, Josh
- Bayer, Kate
- Kent, Victor
- Clarion (Pa.)
- Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- Special education -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Institutional care
- Right to education--Pennsylvania
- Historical reenactments