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

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Pedigree 13 - Female

The young woman in this pedigree was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children when she was 21 years old. She is described as having a mental age of 4 and an IQ of 43. Popular explanations for "feeblemindedness" are evident in…

Pedigree 12 - Female

Committed to the Vermont State School for Feeble-Minded Children in 1922 when she was 21 years old, this young woman was described as a "sex delinquent" who had borne "two illegitimate children." What became of her children? Were they adopted, or…

Pedigree 11 - Female

Several relatives of this young woman, who was 23 at the time of her commitment, were also in state institutions. Her father was in prison and her mother and one sibling were in the state hospital. Four of her siblings were in the Vermont Industrial…

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. …

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 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 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 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 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 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…

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