Saturday 12 December 2009

Eugenics Library



Wellcome Libary, Euston, houses works by leading eugenicists of the Galton Institute

Archives and manuscripts of interest to the Wellcome Trust are kept in their library in Euston, London. This information is courtesy of The Galton Institute who on their own webpage, hosted by the University College London, states openly that among their institutes' principal activities is: 'Acting as trustee for the Birth Control Trust of the Galton Institute, which makes grants to support the practical delivery of family planning facilities, especially in developing countries.' [Yep! The Galton Institute still hate black people!]

When the Wellcome Trust first set up the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre (now subsumed into Archives and Manuscripts) within the Wellcome Institute Library in 1979, it was with the aim of collecting and preserving records illuminating twentieth century developments in medicine, biomedical science and healthcare. It was clear that a good deal of important material was falling through existing systems of preservation.
Although the papers of a few organisations had already been placed in the Wellcome Institute prior to the appointment of an archivist, the first organisational archive actively acquired by the newly established CMAC was that of the Eugenics Society, early in 1980. The CMAC has already received an important collection of papers of Dr Marie Stopes which had been rejected by the (then) British Museum Reading Room (now the Department of Manuscripts, British Library), although it had accepted substantial portions of her extremely large archive of personal papers and material relating to the birth control clinics she established. These two accessions laid the foundations for one of the major strengths of our collections, birth control and reproductive health more generally. The Wellcome now holds the most important archive on the birth control movement in the UK.

The Eugenics Society archive has been one of the most popular collections in the Wellcome: files were being made available to researchers even before cataloguing had been fully completed, such was the demand...Some international scholars return year after year (and so on and so forth...).
Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine reside at 183 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE. Why is it that a charity so renowned for medical research which is for the good of humanity house 'the most important archive on the eugenics movement in the UK?'

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go get yourself a proper scientific education and back up your arguments with supporting evidence rather than ranting about stuff you do not understand. This kind of stuff is like reading the News of the World to form your political opinion rather than a balanced and properly researched piece of prose.

Anonymous said...

All very well you mentioning Nazis and eugenics but the head of my church wasn't in the hitler youth. Go speak to a scince teacher and get an education.

Anonymous said...

And yes i'm aware of the typo, but a one letter mistake pails in comparison to your cavalcade of inaccuracies.

The Bones said...

Come on then! Correct me on all my errors! I'm happy to be convinced Wellcome are not eugenicists. So, what's the deal, anonymous?

Anonymous said...

Did you read all of the article that you linked to? I have, and I don't see anywhere where it, as you said, "sanctions quite publicly the killing of unborn babies with cleft palate".

If you do read it, you will find that it argues that such acts are being done not for eugenic reasons but rather in pursuit of bodily perfection - "eubionics". It also describes this as "negative", which is somewhat opposed to the slant that you put on the whole thing.

Whether you like it or not, genetics will be a major force in medicine in the next century. If you open your mind, read up on the science and the ethics (yes, people do think about this, and much research cannot be done without ethical approval) you should be able to make a much more reasoned and informed contribution to the debate on this subject.

Florence France said...

At first I really laughed, but this isn't actually a piss-take, is it?

I think you need to ask yourself some questions, Laurence, about why you draw such amazing conclusions involving racial hatred and Nazis.

Florence Italy said...

Are you one of those idiots who vandalises paediatricians offices?

Do you wear wraparound shades at a wedding?

Do you consistently fail to see what's funny to everyone else?

Anonymous said...

Laurence, I don't want to come across as condescending but it is quite clear that you have some issues. I'm not having a go here but what you have written is so blatantly wrong that I also thought that it was a joke when I first read it.

You asked for corrections but to do it over the whole article would take too long so I'm just going to explain one thing; Every kind of organism on Earth has a genome Laurence, there is more than one Genome Project...... The "genome project" you've linked to at the NCBI is not human DNA. It is the DNA of swine flu viruses from around the world.

I honesty think you ought to do a LOT more research before commenting on such issues Laurence. After all, I could quite easily write a diatribe about the Catholic church but since I am not an expert in it's bafflingly bizarre ways I don't really think I'm qualified to - what makes you think that you're any better?

The Bones said...

"In my research I have been unable to find any evidence that the goal of the handicap ground is to improve the genetic quality of the population. Yet its critics persist in calling it eugenic. Why should this be so?" - Ruth McNally

Anonymous. The eugenicists, Hitler being a classic example, was obsessed with the Aryan type. He saw that race as being not just racially pure, but the height of 'bodily perfection'.

If an unborn child is deprived of life, killed in the womb because of cleft palate then that is eugenics! The depriving of life of those deemed 'unfit', or, in this case, 'not beautiful enough'.

I am sorry. Anonymous, now it is you who sounds silly. Eubionics and eugenics are different words for the same thing. Like the Galton Institute and the Eugenics Society are different words for the same thing. The language has changed but the Eugenics Society has not!

The Bones said...

Florence

Why are you attacking my personality? It sounds like you, too, are coming with an agenda of your own. Do you work in this field?

The Bones said...

Anonymous

There is not a problem with genetics being at the forefront of medical research. I do have a problem with leading members of that research team being members of the Galton Institute, formerly the Eugenics Society and getting their hands on human embryos - which are basically little human beings.

Anonymous said...

I find your assertion that The Wellcome Trust hates black people quite interesting. I guess that must explain why it is one of the largest funders of research into treatment and prevention of malaria (a disease that kills off white people in droves....). Or maybe you're just a bit mental?

http://malaria.wellcome.ac.uk/

The Bones said...

Wellcome Trust houses the works of Sanger, Pyke, Stopes, Galton Darwin, Slater and many other eugenicists. Why? Their links with the Galton Institute are well known.

Secondly, the Galton Institute is interested, as seen on their website, in the Birth Control Movement in Developing Countries.

I have not said much that is not available on their webpage. I know that the Galton Institute and the Wellcome Trust are not the same organisation. They just seem to support each other. The Wellcome Trust are therefore tainted by their historical links with the Galton Institute, who I doubt very much have 'given up' on eugenics, just because eugenics became a dirty word.

That's all I'm saying, really.

Florence Italy said...

No agenda, Laurence, just think of me as a growing ball of unfocussed rage, of equal size and mass to the one you've been working on. A bit like Kharma.

The Bones said...

lennydetroit@hotmail.com

Well, get it off your chest.

There's my email. If you can't be arsed fair enough, but maybe I can make some corrections if you give me your view on it.

Anonymous said...

"The Wellcome Trust are therefore tainted by their historical links with the Galton Institute"

If we're going to start tarnishing organistions because of historical links then I think that the Catholic church, based on it's historical links with the burning of "heretics", anti-semitism and sexual abuse of minors (among many other things) is on some shaky ground....

I would consider that a little unfair and misguided given that the vast majority of people involved with the Catholic church are not personally responsible for any of these atrocities. Maybe you should adopt the same attitude?

The Bones said...

Thank you for your comments. I agree that I have 'jumped the gun' on several counts and should not play the conspiracy theorist and should check my facts before making assumptions. I have altered the blog post according to your criticisms. I am sorry for any offense caused.

aa said...

In the spirit of corrections.

"So even though the Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation... they also produce pharmaceutical products."

They really don't. The Wellcome Trust sold off its stake in Wellcome plc in 1995. It does not produce pharmaceuticals.

aa said...

Already corrected I see, ignore my comment.

Anonymous said...

Fair play Laurence.

One final point if I may? I actually think that it's a good thing that the Wellcome Trust are doing by keeping the eugenics archive. These documents are of significant historical worth and should not be destroyed - those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them and all that. I imagine that a fair proportion of the archive would probably be very useful for making a strong case for the anti-eugenics cause......

The Bones said...

Agreed!

The Pope Who Won't Be Buried

It has been a long time since I have put finger to keyboard to write about our holy Catholic Faith, something I regret, but which I put larg...