The Third International Congress of Eugenics, held at New York's American Museum of Natural History in August 1932, was the single largest gathering of eugenicists--academics, researchers, medical specialists, and politicians--ever to have convened.
A total of sixty-nine papers were presented at the two day conference, covering topics as widespread as birth selection versus birth control; immigration control; eugenics and education; heredity and environment; the dysgenic effects of war; heredity and disease; and, remarkable for the time, an advanced study of the science of genetics and inheritance.
Among the many fascinating and ground-breaking specific studies were:
- The Unification of the Anthropological Type of Italians and Its Eugenical Effects, presented by Dr. Marcello Boldrini, Professor of Statistics, Catholic University, Milan, Italy.
- Blood Groups in Relation to Race in the Dutch East Indies, presented by Dr. H. J. T. Bijlmer, Ambon, Dutch East Indies.
- The Handwriting of Introverts and Extraverts, presented by Dr. June E. Downey, University of Wyoming.
- Racial Distribution and Its Causes, presented by Dr. Wilhelm Pessler, Hannover, Germany.
- Harmonic Types among Western European Crania, presented by Ruth S. Wallis, Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota.
- Virginia's Effort to Preserve Racial Integrity, presented by Dr. W. A. Plecker, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Richmond, Virginia.
- The American People of Polish Origin in Texas, presented by Dr. Boleslaw Rosinski, Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology, Lwow, Poland.
- The Effect of Migration on the Natural Increase of the Negro, presented by Dr. S. J. Holmes, University of California, Berkeley, California.
- Heredity and Environment--Their Relative Roles in the Development of East Tennessee Mountain Children, presented by Lester R. Wheeler, State Teacher's College, Johnson City, Tennessee.
- Selective Sterilization for Race Culture, presented by Dr. Theodore Russell Robie, Essex County Mental Hygiene Clinic, Cedar Grove, N. J.
- Health Declaration before Marriage. Dr. Jon Alfred Mjøen, Oslo, Norway.
The papers were first issued in book form two years after the conference. This brand new edition contains all sixty-nine papers, the appendices, and is fully indexed. It is has been completely reset, hand-edited, and proofed.
It makes up the most complete record of this highly instructive period when medical science was actually dedicated to improving the lot of mankind through the prevention of inheritable afflictions, and race-betterment for all. It can also serve as a valuable starting point for a revived international eugenics movement should the politically-correct stranglehold on western science be broken once again.
About the authors:
Henry Farnham Perkins (1877-1956) was Director, Eugenics Survey of Vermont, 1925-1936; Professor of Zoology, University of Vermont 1902-1945; Curator, Robert Hull Fleming Museum, 1931-1945; and President, American Eugenics Society, 1931-1934.He chaired the Committee on Publications for the 1932 Eugenics Conference.
Harry Hamilton Laughlin (1880-1943) was the Superintendent of the Eugenics Record Office in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, from its inception in 1910 to its closing in 1939. He was awarded a Doctor of Science from Princeton University and was instrumental in helping shape the US Immigration Act of 1924.
