1908 Middlebury Course Catalog
See page 46, Sociology. Note the terms "race characteristics" and "defectives and degenerates".
Bennington Evening Banner, November 2, 1912
Note the use of the word "urged" twice in the first paragraph. Note the sentence "This subject was urged upon Governor Mead..." Also note that Judge Weeks was among those urging Mead. John E. Weeks was a trustee of Middlebury College. Yet more fingerprints of Middlebury College on the eugenics legislation in 1912.
1912-1913 Middlebury Course Catalog
Governor Mead made his speech in 1912, so Middlebury College was already prepared to teach "pedagogy from the genetic point of view". See page 79. Pedagogy. Principles of Education.
Rural Life Conference News-clipping 1913, Olneyville Times, Friday, July 4, 1913
Brief mention of a "sociology conference" at Middlebury College. Read the transcript to see the connection to eugenics.
1913 Rural Life Conference Text
This text is from the University of Vermont and they categorize it as eugenics. From "Vermont Eugenics: A Documentary History".
The Journal of Heredity, v.5, 1914
See page 186, "Eugenics in the Colleges" This is the year that Governor Mead made his offer.
Rutland Daily Herald, Jan 5, 1916. "Strong Advocate of Eugenics Marriages"
"Professor Lambert Delivers Address at the Woman's Club. Professor Lambert is supervisor of biology at the college." 1916 was the year that the Mead Memorial Chapel was completed.
The Barre Daily Times, Barre, Vermont · Monday, December 08, 1924. "Professor of Biology"
Middlebury Biology professor dies in 1924. He taught at Middlebury since 1918. He was a fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the second International Congress of Eugenics.
1925 Middlebury Freshman Course
This was mandatory for all incoming Freshmen in 1925. Eugenics was not just taught in the biology, zoology, and pedagogy classes.
Search pages 6 and 16 for the word eugenics. On page 6: "What Has Civilization to Expect from Eugenics?" On page 16: "Who Am I? - Eugenics"
Fourth Annual Report of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont. March 1930
Read the first paragraph of the Forward. "In its present capacity as coordinate with two other subcommittees working on the Comprehensive Survey of Rural Vermont, the Eugenics Survey of Vermont has been cooperating as fully as possible under the general supervision of the Committee on the Human Factor of which President Paul Moody of Middlebury College is Chairman. There has been gratifying cooperation between the committees and subcommittees of the Vermont Commission on Country Life and some of the work described in this report was suggested or has been facilitated by other divisions of the larger enterprise."
Paul Moody Quote
“The whole of the French Canadian population could be wiped out of Middlebury and no one would miss it”
Rutland Daily Herald, Tuesday, October 3, 1933. "Social Workers to Open Meeting Today"
There will be a conference about "social welfare" to be held at Middlebury College, and the registration will be coordinated by the eugenic survey office in Burlington.
1945 Middlebury Course Catalog
See the Genetics Course under Biology and the Population Course under Sociology.
Letter to Middlebury Community sent September 27, 2021.
Now re-read this letter in light of the information about Middlebury and Eugenics.
Middlebury Campus Article, December 9, 2021
Please note this paragraph, "Eugenics implies a whole cultural and educational edifice of which Middlebury has taken part. One only needs to browse the college’s course catalogs of the first decades of the 20th century to see the emergence of eugenics in the curriculum and across departments such as Pedagogy (later renamed Education and Psychology), Biology and Sociology. Looking at the 1931 course catalog alone, eugenics and ideas of social progress and pathology based on heredity and environment can be found in the descriptions of courses such as “Genetics and Embryology,” “Social Psychology” and “Educational Psychology,” in addition to nearly the entire course offering of the Sociology department. In this regard, Middlebury’s curriculum followed national and international trends of Europe and North America. It is, therefore, not a stretch to consider that eugenicists and eugenics sympathizers, were, to some degree, trained at Middlebury."
Middlebury Campus Article, December 8, 2022
Please note this part, "The college also hosted various speeches on eugenics, employed members of the National Congress of Eugenics and is noted as one of 44 colleges in the United States confirmed to have taught eugenics into the 1910s. These connections are not necessarily all that exist between Middlebury and eugenics, but are merely the ones we uncovered. Understanding that this history is larger than John Mead and Middlebury’s Chapel is vital to truly understanding this dark chapter of Middlebury’s history."