Edie Falco Reads Helen Keller’s 1932 Letter Describing What She ‘Saw’ at the Top of the Empire State Building

The great Edie Falco read an incredibly descriptive letter written in January of 1932 by Helen Keller in response to a question posed by Dr. John H. Finley, the President of the New York Association for the Blind, about what she “saw” when she visited the newly constructed Empire State Building.

In 1932, after seeing a photograph of Keller atop the newly-opened Empire State Building in Manhattan, Dr. John Finley, President of the New York Association for the Blind, wrote to her and asked what she really “saw” from that height. Keller responded with this magnificent letter—one of the most evocative descriptions of the skyscraper and its surroundings ever to have been written.

Keller, who was a gifted writer, told Finley exactly what she saw in her beautifully imaginative mind’s eye.

As I stood there ‘twixt earth and sky, I saw a romantic structure wrought by human brains and hands that is to the burning eye of the sun a rival luminary. I saw it stand erect and serene in the midst of storm and the tumult of elemental commotion. I heard the hammer of Thor ring when the shaft began to rise upward. I saw the unconquerable steel, the flash of testing flames, the sword-like rivets. I heard the steam drills in pandemonium. I saw countless skilled workers welding together that mighty symmetry. I looked upon the marvel of frail, yet indomitable hands that lifted the tower to its dominating height. Let cynics and supersensitive souls say what they will about American materialism and machine civilization. 

This incredible reading took place during a 2018 Letters Live event at The Town Hall in New York City.