Originally Posted on Blogging for Books
This post is for educational purposes only. All images owned by the American Philosophical Society Library.
Any group of farmers who permitted their best stock not to breed, and let all the increase come from the worst stock, would be treated as fit inmates for an asylum.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President
This collection of images show a history of America that is not often talked about. Touted as the Land of Freedom and Progress, history such as the Eugenics Programs that inspired Hitler beg to differ. These images from the American Philosophical Society Library are from the Eugenics Record Office (1910-1939).
The Eugenics Record Office (ERO) was a research institute established by the Carnegie Institute and financed primarily by the Institute, the Rockefeller Family, and Mary Harriman, an American Philanthropist. Charles Davenport, the founder of the ERO, believed that it was necessary to apply Mendelian Genetics to humans and together with the help of his wife Gertrude Davenport, an embryologist and geneticist, they wrote papers supporting the ERO and his ideas about Mendelian Genetics and humans.
Not only was the ERO financed by well-known and respected members of American Society, it was also run by various committees with other influential people. The Committee on Inheritance of Mental Traits included among its members Robert M. Yerkes and Edward L. Thorndike. The Committee on Heredity of Deafmutism included Alexander Graham Bell. Harry H. Laughlin was on the Committee on Sterilization, and the Committee on the Heredity of the Feeble Minded included, among others, Henry Herbert Goddard. Other prominent board members included scientists like Irving Fisher, William E. Castle, and Adolf Meyer (Wikipedia).
These photos, which were given to the American Philosophical Society Library, are some of the non-genealogical material collected by the ERO. The collection mainly consists of portraits of those deemed to be “Unfit” as well as photos of newspaper articles supporting Eugenics, Pedigrees, propaganda, and portraits of notable figures and contests showcasing “Fitter Families”.
While the ERO was eventually closed down due to the rise of Nazism and large criticism, it’s role in American Eugenics is just a small drop in the bucket of Eugenics in the United States.
Unknown Artist
Family affected by albinism. 1938
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/family-affected-albinism
Unknown Artist
Midgets at Luna Park, Coney Island, New York. n.d.
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/midgets-luna-park-coney-island-new-york
Unknown Artist
Toney, Alligator Skin Boy, Dreamland Circus Side Show, Coney Island, N. Y. 1927
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
Unknown Artist
Mongolian Idiots Hands. n.d.
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/mongolian-idiots-hands
Unknown Artist
Flashing light sign “Some People are Born to be a Burden on the Rest” used with small exhibit. 1926
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
Unknown Artist
Flashing light sign “Learn About Heredity, You can help to correct these conditions” used with small exhibit. 1926
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
Unknown Artist
Board showing color inheritance in guinea pigs. 1926
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/board-showing-color-inheritance-guinea-pigs
Unknown Artist
Chart used at Kansas Free Fair describing “unfit human traits” and the importance of eugenic marriage. 1929
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
Unknown Artist
“Eugenics, like a tree, Eugenics draws its materials from many sources…” n.d.
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
Unknown Artist
“How to Keep Well: Results of Mixing the Races.” 1927
Clippings
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/how-keep-well%3A-results-mixing-races
Unknown Artist
Zoology Department Course Descriptions: Heredity and Genetics, Social Hygiene, University of Idaho. 1920
Clippings
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
Unknown Artist
Banquet tendered physicians and delegates to the national Conference on Race Betterment by the Battle Creek Sanitarium portrait in dining hall. 1914
Gelatin silver prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
Unknown Artist
Eugenic and Health Exhibit, Kansas Free Fair. 1929
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/eugenic-and-health-exhibit-kansas-free-fair-1929
Unknown Artist
Winner of Large Family Class, Kansas Free Fair. 1925.
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/winner-large-family-class-kansas-free-fair-1925
Unknown Artist
Family of Honorable mention, Large Family Class, Fitter Families Contest, Kansas Free Fair. 1923
Photomechanical prints
Eugenics Record Office Records, American Philosophical Society Library
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