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Eugenics in the education record: a reading guide

This guide lists 25 passages on eugenics in the reports of the U.S. Commissioner of Education (1909–1950) and the NEA’s annual proceedings (1911–1922). Each entry names the printed page, links the item page and opens the scan at that page, so every line can be checked against the source.

Between 1909 and 1950 the federal education office and the NEA printed reports, addresses and survey chapters that discussed eugenics. The passages below are cited to the printed page, so readers can see for themselves what the people running American public schooling put on the record.

For the NEA’s and the AFT’s own record from 1901 to 1938, with a timeline, people and critical voices, read the feature The NEA, the AFT and Eugenics, 1901–1938: A Documentary Record.

Reports of the U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1909–1950

  1. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1909, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 64 · scan p. 84

    Lists "eugenic movements" among child-welfare topics surveyed, alongside kindergartens, child study and playgrounds.

  2. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1911, vol. 1

    vol. 1, ch. V (Religious and ethical education), p. 269 · scan p. 293

    Reprints conference resolutions approving increased emphasis in biology teaching on hygiene and "sex hygiene and eugenics" (OCR runs "sex hygiene" together).

  3. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1911, vol. 1

    vol. 1, Educational movements in Great Britain, p. 562 · scan p. 586

    Notes a £30,000 bequest from the estate of Sir Francis Galton to the University of London "for a department of national eugenics".

  4. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1911, vol. 2

    vol. 2, Summer schools in 1911, p. 1147 · scan p. 525

    Summer-school listing for Cold Spring Harbor includes "a training course for field workers in eugenics".

  5. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1912, vol. 1

    vol. 1, Survey of education 1911-12, p. 5 · scan p. 37

    Commissioner's survey states that the school in its wider social purpose "is intensely interested in eugenics and euthenics".

  6. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1912, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 339 · scan p. 371

    Among the listed aims of a social-hygiene organization: to use all agencies under social control "to prevent the marriage of the unfit and defectives who are fated to propagate their kind".

  7. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1912, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 340 · scan p. 372

    Gives the three aims of the Chicago Society of Social Hygiene (per its secretary, William T. Belfield). The third is to spread the knowledge that the mentally defective "can be sterilized without" (sentence continues).

  8. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1912, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 341 · scan p. 373

    Reports that "The School of Eugenics of Boston is attempting to give instruction in sex hygiene".

  9. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1912, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 357 · scan p. 389

    Reports that the Brooklyn Institute "is undertaking to train teachers for work in eugenics".

  10. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1912, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 629 · scan p. 661

    Notes the First International Congress on Eugenics, London, July 24-30, 1912.

  11. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1913, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 432 · scan p. 494

    Account of baby shows describes "a general awakening along the lines of inheritance and eugenics".

  12. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1913, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 478 · scan p. 540

    Perkins Institution passage cites "economic and eugenic reasons".

  13. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1913, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 495 · scan p. 557

    Section on training delinquent children states: "The best way to care for the defective delinquent is to prevent his propagation." On sterilization it adds: "Although authorized in five States, it is seldom done."

  14. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1913, vol. 2

    vol. 2, Summer schools in 1913, p. 395 · scan p. 409

    Summer-school listing for the School of Eugenics, Boston, with courses including "theory and mechanism of inheritance; eugenics; sex education".

  15. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1914, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 23 · scan p. 67

    Survey passage refers to "arranging for custodial care, or for the sterilization of the mentally defective."

  16. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1914, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 347 · scan p. 391

    Reports that "Some schools of Chicago have introduced the study of eugenics".

  17. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1914, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 372 · scan p. 416

    Parent-education listings, including University of Oklahoma "correspondence courses in eugenics".

  18. Biennial Survey of Education, 1920-1922, vol. 1

    vol. 1, p. 736 · scan p. 744

    Quoted extension report mentions short courses including "another on eugenics".

  19. Biennial Survey of Education, 1928-1930, vol. 1

    vol. 1, Homemaking education, p. 255 · scan p. 263

    Child-care course outline lists "heredity and eugenics" among topics.

  20. Biennial Survey of Education, 1948-50

    p. 112 (chapter pagination) · scan p. 582

    High-school subject classification lists "Eugenics" under biology courses.

NEA annual proceedings, 1911–1922

  1. NEA Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, 1911 (vol. 49)

    p. 1043 · scan p. 1059

    H. H. Goddard address; quote: "It is only to prevent their being born."

  2. NEA Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, 1912 (vol. 50)

    p. 1156 · scan p. 1172

    W. A. McKeever address section headed "EUGENICS".

  3. NEA Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, 1913 (vol. 51)

    p. 768 · scan p. 784

    Maximilian Groszmann cautions against "alarmism and overemphasis".

  4. NEA Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, 1913 (vol. 51)

    p. 772 · scan p. 788

    C. B. Davenport address, "FIT AND UNFIT MATINGS".

  5. NEA Proceedings, 1922 (vol. 60)

    p. 564 · scan p. 586

    Refers to the Second International Congress of Eugenics (1921).

The notes describe what each source says; they do not endorse it. Page numbers are the printed page; “scan p.” is the page of the PDF file. All topic guides.