ID# 250:
"Eugenics seeks to improve the natural, physical, mental and tempermental qualities of the human family," Eugenics Record Office
Date:
Circa 1927
Pages: (1|2|3|4)
Source:
American Philosophical Society, ERO, MSC77,SerX,Box2: Harry H. Laughlin

&quote;Eugenics seeks to improve the natural, physical, mental and tempermental qualities of the human family,&quote; Eugenics Record Office

Family Tree Folder. Besides the Record of Family Traits, there are numerous other genealogical and pedigree forms supplied to interested persons by this office. The Family Tree Folder is one of the most useful of these forms. It provides space and instructions for plotting the family tree and for indicating the distribution, in the family, of one or more striking hereditary traits. This folder provides also for a short biographical outline of each person charted. This is the shortest and most condensed pedigree-plotting system outlined by this office. Short Schedules for Special Traits. In addition to the two schedules above described, the Eugenics Record Office issues a few briefer forms for recording special traits. These are: (1) Musical Talent, (2) Tuberculosis, (3) Harelip and Cleft Palate, (4) Hair Form, Hair and Eye Color, and Complexion, (5) Stature, (6) Weight, (7) Physical Measurement Record, (8) Twins, (9) Mathematical Ability, and finally a small (10) Special Trait Sheet for recording the family distribution and brief description of any striking trait that seems to "run in families." There is also a small sheet, --"Brief Instructions for Charting," which explains the very simple method of plotting family trees, which students of heredity have found useful. Like the Record of Family Traits, these special schedules will be sent in duplicate to any interested person. Family Distribution of Personal Traits. The most complete plan or outline for guiding the research and recording the results of family history studies, with special reference to hereditary traits, is an indefinitely expansible looseleaf system called the Family Distribution of Personal Traits. Its essential unit is the Individual Analysis Card which is filled out as completely as possible for each family group that may be selected. This schedule includes instructions for making the record, a chart for plotting the family connections, and thirty Individual Analysis Cards all bound in manila covers. As many additional Analysis Cards as may be needed for the particular study will be supplied upon request. The schedule should not be applied for until either the Record of Family Traits or the Family Tree Folder have been filled out satisfactorily, and the investigator desires a completer and more detailed outline. Physical Developmental Records. A schedule for boys and one for girls including 8 charts as follows: Stature, Increments of stature, weight, span of arms, sitting height, relative sitting height, chest girth, relative chest girth. Each chart consists of a standard developmental curve drawn on plotting paper, permitting the recording of the measurements of a boy or girl and their comparison with a standard. Sent to parents and others who agree to make frequent measurements of the children under their charge. Special Eugenical Investigations. The subject of Eugenics covers all human traits, good, bad, and indifferent. Frequently a person with scientific bent will, entirely apart from his own family, become interested in another family, either one of very high ability, such as one producing musicians, statesmen, inventors, athletes or the like, or on the other hand, one very low in social value, such as a family of "ne'er-do-wells," outcasts or criminals. Whatever line of eugenical study one cares to undertake, it is well first to consult with the Eugenics Record Office, which will be glad to supply whatever pertinent data it may have, and to explain methods which have proven most successful in similar studies. Physicians, teachers, ministers, lawyers, lecturers, women's clubs, social students, biologists, family genealogists and archivists, biographers, and all other persons interested in studying, recording, publishing and bettering the natural qualities of their own family, or of mankind at large, are invited to keep in touch with the Eugenics Record Office. Genealogical Investigation. Many persons seek the aid of genealogists in tracing their family connections. While an authentic genealogy or family tree is an essential foundation for the trait-pedigree, usually the person who desires the aid of the genealogist wants to trace back his or her ancestry many generations to some person of greater or less historical distinction, quite forgetting that a single ancestor within remote ancestral generation is of but

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