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Charles Davenport, first director of the Eugenics Record Office, 1932.
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Charles Davenport at work, around 1933.
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Eugenics exhibits were common in the early 1900's. Booths would be set up at local fairs and ERO field workers used the opportunity to collect data. This booth was set up at the Kansas State Free Fair in 1920.
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The ERO sponsored "fitter family" contests to promote the idea of "breeding" better humans.
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The eugneics tree, used as a logo by the ERO.
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(P. 1 of 4) Issue #1 of the Eugenical News, January 1916, the newsletter issued by the Eugenics Record Office.
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(P. 2 of 4) Issue #1 of the Eugenical News, January 1916, the newsletter issued by the Eugenics Record Office.
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(P. 3 of 4) Issue #1 of the Eugenical News, January 1916, the newsletter issued by the Eugenics Record Office.
Audio Glossary
Dominant, Inherited, Mendelian inheritance, Pedigree, RecessiveVideo Interviews
Garland Allen is a Professor in the Evolutionary and Population Biology Program at Washington University in St. Louis. He authored Thomas Hunt Morgan: The Man & His Science, and several texts, including Matter, Energy and Life and The Study of Biology.
Clip 1 (1:05)
The beginnings of the American Eugenics movement: the first Eugenics committee.
Clip 2 (0:30)
Applying genetics to humans.
Clip 3 (0:46)
The flaws of Eugenics.
Clip 4 (0:53)
Did any good come out of the Eugenics program?
Charles Davenport was one of the leaders of the eugenics movement. He tried to shape human evolution by applying Mendel's laws to "build" better human stocks.  CHARLES BENEDICT DAVENPORT (1866-1944)Charles Davenport was one of the most prominent biologists of his time. He was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and went to Harvard University for his education. For a while, he was a professor at the University of Chicago. In 1890, Davenport became the director of the Biological Laboratory established by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor. When the Carnegie Institute began looking for a place to set up a research center on evolution, Davenport convinced them that Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, New York was the ideal locale. The Station for Experimental Evolution opened in 1904 with Davenport as its director. In 1910, with financial backing from the wife of E. H. Harriman, the railroad tycoon, Davenport established the Eugenics Records Office (ERO) at Cold Spring Harbor. Davenport believed that "the general program of the eugenicist is clear - it is to improve the race by inducing young people to make a more reasonable selection of marriage mates; to fall in love intelligently. It also includes the control by the state of the propagation of the mentally incompetent." During the next 11 years, the ERO trained men and women on the "science" of eugenics and data collection. These field workers helped accumulate a large number of records on "inherited" human traits. The ERO published its results as bulletins, and had its own newsletter. Davenport and the eugenics movement influenced state laws on sterilization, immigration and miscegenation (mixed race marriages). In 1921, the ERO merged with the Station for Experimental Evolution to become the Department of Genetics. Davenport continued to be a director until 1934. | |
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LinksCold Spring Harbor LaboratoryThis site has a short history on the development of the current research facilities from the Biological Laboratories and the Station for Experimental Evolution. The Center for BioethicsThe University of Pennslyvania has an web site where articles and comments on bioethical subjects are posted. National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)NHGRI was established in 1989 to head the Human Genome Project for the National Institute of Health. NHGRI runs the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications program (ELSI) to deal with issues from the mapping and sequencing of the human genome. Bibliography
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