Proposal to the Advisory Committee of the Eugenics Survey: a machine readable edition H.F. Perkins Creation of machine-readable version: Nancy Gallagher Additional scanning and OCR: Ben Schacher Conversion to TEI.2-conformant markup: Mary Margaret Welch Additional markup by: Hope Greenberg, Shane Barney ca. 9 kilobytes University of VermontBurlington, Vermont USA

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July/2000 Proposal to the Advisory Committee of the Eugenics Survey <author>H.F. Perkins</author> <editor/> </titleStmt> <editionStmt> <p/> </editionStmt> <publicationStmt><publisher/><pubPlace/><date>September 9, 1925</date></publicationStmt> <notesStmt> <note/> </notesStmt> </biblFull> </sourceDesc> </fileDesc><encodingDesc> <projectDesc> <p>Prepared for the University of Vermont Electronic Text Archive.</p> </projectDesc> <editorialDecl> <p>Scanner: Visioneer 6100 (36 bit, 600x1200). Text OCR by Visioneer. </p> <p>Quote marks retained as data. All "M" and "N" dashes converted to two hyphens or one hyphen, respectively. All unambiguous end-of-line hyphens have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line. Some text realigned to left for purposes of readability, at discretion of editors.</p> </editorialDecl> </encodingDesc><profileDesc> <creation> <date>September 9, 1925</date> </creation> <textClass> <keywords scheme="#"> <term>WE'LL LET NANCY DETERMINE THESE</term> </keywords> </textClass> </profileDesc></teiHeader> <text> <front> <div1> <bibl> <author>Perkins, Henry F.</author> <title level="u">Proposal to the Advisory Committee of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont September 9, 1925 Eugenics Survey of Vermont Papers, Miscellaneous: Projects ‐ Old Permission required for reproduction. Vermont Public Records. EUGENICS SURVEY OF VERMONT.

A. OBJECT ‐ A GOOD EUGENICS PROGRAM FOR VERMONT

Some Essentials of a Good Eugenics Program.

(Please renumber the following items so as to arrange them in what seems to you to be the order of their importance. Cross out any item that you consider non‐essential and add others that you consider essential.)

1. Routine physical and mental examinations of school children with registration of defectives. 2. Special classes in the public schools. (In rural as well as ‐urban and village.) 3. Clinics (some of them travelling) for use of schools, courts, prisons, welfare societies, orphanages, public health nurses, etc. etc. a. Should one clinic be connected with Waterbury State Hospital? b. Should one clinic be connected with Brandon State School? c. Should one clinic be connected with the U.V.M.? d. Should one clinic be connected with Brattleboro Retreat? 4. Mental Hygiene Society whose object shall be the education of public opinion so that both public and private funds may be available for a good Eugenics and Mental Hygiene program. Such a society should be in a position to give aid to local communities who wish to inaugurate a eugenics program. 5. Social Workers to do follow‐up work for state institutions and clinics. 6. Colonies for the Feeble Minded. 7. Sterilization Law. 8. Maternity and Prenatal Care. 9. Visiting Teachers.

B. PLAN OF SURVEY.

I. Survey of Institutions.

1. Map of State as to localities which send defectives and delinquents to state institutions with the idea of judging whether any one locality sends an undue number in proportion to its population: i.e. are there certain “pockets" in Vermont which are breeding defectives? 2. Nationality of defectives. Does any one race (as French Canadians) produce more defectives than another? 3. Study of notorious families represented by several or many members in one institution or sending members to different institutions, social agencies, etc. Charts of these families and investigation in community and social agencies of other members of these families.

Questions

1. To what extent, if any, should the study of the members of these notorious families still in the community be psychiatric? 2. In case of presumably defective ancestors (now deceased ‐ to what extent is an estimate of their mentality possible or valuable? 4. Cases of inbreeding. 5. Expense to state of these families. 6. Statistics for Institution Population as to: a. Cause of commitment b. Physical condition c. Mental age and condition d. Social traits e.Home conditions.

II. Survey of School Children, who are retarded, repeaters, or behavior problems as to

1. Mental age 2. Social traits 3. Behavior difficulties 4. Home conditions a. present b. pre school

Questions.

1. Would it be possible or profitable to follow up careers of children who have been dismissed from school while under age because of low mentality, behavior difficulties, poverty of family, etc.? 2. What would be a possible and representative way to study the schools of the state? a. Because of resources for mental and physical examinations, would it be satisfactory to study all the schools in one town, such as Brattleboro, Burlington, or Waterbury? (Brattleboro has the Retreat, the Thomas Thompson Trust Nursing Service. It has also an interesting French Canadian mill colony.) b. Or, would it be possible to take one school in a representative district as: 1 large city school, 1 large village school, 1 small “ " 1 farming community 1 mill community 1 quarrying community 1 lumbering

III. Survey of other agencies as:

1. Orphanages, 2. Poor Farms and Town Charges, 3. Children's Societies, Cases, 4. Courts, 5. Probation and parole 6. State Dependents, 7.Other Welfare Societies.

Questions.

1. To what extent, if any, should the survey take in the above. 2. Should the Survey include Brattleboro Retreat, Austine Institute and Perkins Institute (Vermont cases.)

C. DISCUSSION AS TO PLAN.

1. Should or could the survey be purely social (not mental or psychological) taking in merely the alleged causes of dependency and delinquency, etc. 2. If survey is to be psychological and psychiatric to what extent would the state hospitals, Brattleboro Retreat, the Departments of Psychology and Medicine of the U.V.M., Brandon State School, etc. assist in making the mental and physical examinations? 3. Suggestions as to other ways of securing mental examinations. 4. Should mental examinations be made of the prisoners? 5. Criticisms and suggestions as to plan. 6. To what extent should this survey be limited with the idea of doing more during other years? 7. Suggestions as schedules. Will the psychologists on this committee assist in preparing or criticizing schedules? 8 .Should the National Committee of Mental Hygiene be asked to assist? 9. Could figures be obtained to show that a good eugenics and mental hygiene program would save expense? i.e. Do the institutions have cases that need not have been there if they had had early attention?

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