Pedigree 32 - Male

Title

Subject

Collaboration between the Eugenics Survey of Vermont and the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children in the 1920s.

Description

This pedigree describes a boy who was first committed to the Vermont Industrial School before being transferred to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children when he was roughly 12 yeas old. The eugenic social worker who completed the pedigree speaks ill of the boy's mother, describing her as "epileptic" and a "sex offender" who wreaked havoc on the men in her life. Under "Additional Information," the social worker writes, "Two men sent to Windsor [the state prison] on mother's account." This pedigree also offers a glimpse into another side of the eugenics story. While this boy was institutionalized, his younger sibling was adopted by an upstanding family. Under the positive eugenic influence of his adoptive parents, he subsequently "Took first prize in baby show when three years old."

Creator

Eugenics Survey of Vermont.

Harriett Abbott, Vermont Eugenics Survey field investigator.

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. Publication contingent on the removal of personal identifying information. All names have been redacted from the document.

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 page following a simple format, with names redacted.

Language

English

Type

eugenics