Ijams, William E.

Hearing. Founded a small private school for the deaf in Iowa City, IA, in 1854; this merged into the state-supported Iowa Institution for the Deaf and Dumb that was established the next year. Ijams is generally credited as the founder of the Iowa Institution/School, with instrumental assistance from Edmund Booth (q.v.). Ijam's brother, Joseph H. Ijams (q.v.), also became a teacher at the Iowa Institution.