When Helen was seven years old, her family decided to find a teacher for her. They wrote to Michael Anagnos, who was the director of the Perkins Institute and Asylum for the Blind. They asked him to help them find a teacher for their daughter. He wrote to them and told them that he knew a young teacher and her name was Annie Sullivan. She had been blind, but a series of operations helped restore her eyesight. Annie traveled to Alabama to live with Helen’s family and to teach her. Annie went to live with the Keller family in March, 1887.