Pedigrees of Inmates at the Vermont School for Feebleminded Children, 1925

Dublin Core

Title

Pedigrees of Inmates at the Vermont School for Feebleminded Children, 1925

Subject

Collaboration between the Eugenics Survey of Vermont and the Brandon Training School in the 1920s.

Description

The collection includes selected pedigrees completed by the Eugenics Survey of Vermont of individuals at the Vermont School for Feeble-Minded Children.

Creator

Eugenics Survey of Vermont.

Source

Records of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont. Eugenics Survey of Vermont and the Vermont Commission on Country Life Records 1925-1956. Series ID: PRA-005. Vermont State Archives.

Date

1925

Rights

Open Access, contingent on the removal of personal identifying information. All names have been redacted from the documents.

Relation

The University of Vermont has created an online resource containing many documents relating to the Eugenics Survey of Vermont. The url is http://www.uvm.edu/~eugenics/.

Format

Typescript pages following a simple format, with names redacted.

Language

English

Type

eugenics

Collection Items

Pedigree 01 - Female
This brief pedigree describes an inmate who was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children in 1920, when she was 14 years old. The "Defects" attributed to her are horrifying: "Sex; Venereal, Syphilis and Gonorrhea; Raped by…

Pedigree 02 - Female
The inmate described in this pedigree was 16 years old when she was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children in 1922. She had already given birth to two children. Her defect is stated to be "Two illegitimate children; sex." …

Pedigree 03 - Female
This pedigree describes a female patient with Downs Syndrome who was 9 years old at the time of her admission to the institution in 1922. Note the assigned cause: "Mother had headaches and brooded over news of insane stepsister." In the early 20th…

Pedigree 04 - Female
This document describes a 15-year-old girl with the mental status of "high imbecile" who was transferred to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children from the Vermont Industrial School in Vergennes. According to the pedigree, she initially…

Pedigree 05 - Male
This pedigree describes a boy who was was 13 at the time of his commitment to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children. Under "History," the social worker has written "ran away; stole; masturbation."

Pedigree 06- Female
Admitted to the Vermont State School for Feeble-Minded Children when she was 8 years old, the child described in this pedigree likely came to the attention of state authorities when her mother died. Her defects are listed as "Masturbation.…

Pedigree 07 - Male
This pedigree features a man with microcephaly who had bounced between various institutions throughout his first 23 years. Because Vermont did not have its own institution for "feebleminded children" until 1915, the Burlington Overseer of the Poor…

Pedigree 08 - Female
This pedigree describes a woman who was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children in 1922 when she was 22 years old. Her family was the subject of a broader family pedigree. According to the eugenic fieldworker, sexual…

Pedigree 09 - Female
This pedigree gives an account of a young woman who was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children to prevent her from producing any additional offspring. Though her IQ score, at 84, was barely "below average," her status as a…

Pedigree 10 - Male
This pedigree describes a boy who was 14 at the time of his commitment to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children. As is evident in many of the pedigrees, the loss or desertion of a parent was a factor in this boy's institutionalization. …
View all 43 items