Unity in Vermont During Eugenics Programs (1920s-1981)

Paul Fischer

Vermont History

6/25/2015

Unity in Vermont During Eugenics Programs (1920s-1981)

The Eugenics program in Vermont was pioneered by Professor Perkins, from the University of Vermont. While he died an alcoholic of liver failure, the racial nature of the eugenic program espoused and exported from his work has left a lasting and tangible scar on the population and culture of Vermont, even today. While the program officially ended in 1936, amid rising tensions with Nazi Germany and domestic policies there coupled with loss of financial support from private interests, notably Shirley Farr, Vermont continued to teach the barbaric practices of both negative and positive population control in zoology courses until the 1960s. While the number directly affected was small (though the process was carried out upon approximately the same intensity as Nazi Germany per capita for most social or psychological disorders), academic involvement in these violations of human reproduction could arguably be said to have surpassed other attempts with little exception.

Lack of public interest in this field is actually an important statement for Vermont unity; failure to ensure the integrity of academic procedures in this and other states meant that not only 250 men and women were sterilized, but their families or potential families were also affected. Discrediting such work was a simple task, both with publicly available biological research as well as using basic economic measurements and comparisons.  Some would argue the negative impact on freedom of behavior and cultural expression which arose from this created a nearly theological nature to social norms in this state which are strictly unconstitutional, both federally and in the state.

Motivation remains unclear: “Aboott and later Eugenics Survey fieldworkers rarely received any credit for their work” (Dann, 12) and monetary considerations must be taken into account. The breakdown of communication between academic and public resources issued and reflected upon a breakdown of the state’s unity (though it should be noted that federal public works projects and other economic investment did allow Vermont to enjoy some prosperity lacked by the rest of the nation during this time) and the results of this program in the long-term hindered intellectual and social pursuits in both the state and nation. One possible mechanism of this destructive educational stagnation was the appointment of half of the University of Vermont’s board of trustees, in opposition to later university policies which required elective democratic procedures to determine the University’s decisions and procedures (Borgmann, 22).

Financial support for the eugenics program in Vermont is important for an understanding of the mechanisms of how this perversion of social justice was able to occur. “During the Eugenics Survey’s first year of operation, Mrs. Eggleston gave another $2,500 and then Perkins found a continuing source of support in another VCAS sponsor, Shirley Farr” (Dann, 8). Female involvement in the process was extremely high, as were the victims, though Vermont is notable for being among the states with highest levels of male sterilization among such movements: “Women were perceived by their male superiors as uniquely suited to eugenic field work for which intuition, politeness, and an eye for detail were thought to be essential” (Dann, 13) which suggests as well that there was a recognition at this time period that the work done by field workers necessitated an elevated level of direct female involvement, though it is clear when evaluating the intentionalism of the actions that their educated male superiors made some fundamental errors. In the popular film Transformers III it is said, “you were our leader, Optimus, it is your right to lead us again.” While Perkins was allowed to retain his position teaching zoology and continued to propagate sterilization until his death as an alcoholic of liver failure (ironically one of the conditions sterilization was advocated as a cure to), educational and academic structures eventually proved strong enough to check him or financiers from repeating this sort of wayward academic endeavor.

Works Cited:

Borgmann, Carl W. "UVM": The University of the State of Vermont (New York: The Newcomen Society in North America, 1956)." The program is explained in An Exposition of the System of Instruction and Discipline in the University of Vermont, published by the faculty in. 1829.

Dann, Kevin. "From Degeneration to Regeneration: The Eugenics Survey of Vermont: 1925-1936." Vermont History 59.7 (1991): 16.