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Creating the "Perfect" Human - Eugenics and the Disabled
Eugenics is the “science” of improving the human race through means such as selective breeding and sterilization. Supporters believed eugenics would increase the intelligence of humanity, conserve resources, and alleviate suffering. The term was first coined in 1883 by Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin... [continue here]
Top shelf: Phrenology head, a photograph showing phrenometric measurements, and books on phrenology (Loma, A Citizen of Venus, New Physiognomy, and Essays in Eugenics), physiognomy, and eugenics. View selected exhibits on this shelf...
Middle shelf: Books on race, eugenics and intermarriage (Safe Counsel or Practical Eugenics, Intermarriage, The Social Direction of Human Evolution, The Greatest Problem of the Race, Uncontrolled Breeding). Photographs of and a 1909 report from the Ohio Hospital for Epileptics in Gallipolis, Ohio. View selected exhibits on this shelf...
Bottom shelf: Books on race and birth control (The Super Race, By Trust Betrayed, My Fight for Birth Control, The Pivot of Civilization, and a 1917 issue of The Birth Control Review), a photo and sermon of Bishop August Graf von Galen opposing Nazi euthanasia programs. View selected exhibits on this shelf...
Referenced Canaday Center collections:
- MSS-185: Hugh Gallagher Papers, 1880-2002
- Rare book collection (locate the individual titles above in the library catalog)