Eugenics in Indiana

On the heels of society's introduction to genetic inheritance, early Eugenicists promoted the theory of controlled breeding as a way to increase human stock and stamp out social degeneracy. Throughout the 20th century, the eugenic theory assumed various connotations and manifested itself as a movement to actively and sometimes forcefully improve the human race through government intervention in the procreation and rearing of children. In Indiana, social reformists embraced eugenics and its implications for destroying crime, pauperism, and otherwise unfavorable behavior. As support built in 1907, the Indiana General Assembly passed a law to prevent procreation of "confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists". This was the first law passed in the United States that allowed for the involuntary sterilization of socially undesirable individuals.

Other reformists promoted change by waging a campaign for improved public health on a large mobile scale. Public health leaders believed that good health and proper child rearing could decrease public degeneracy. The Indiana State Department of Health began large-scale campaigns to educate Hoosiers on proper hygiene and food preparation as well as the widespread education of rural Indiana in child care. These efforts culminated with the creation of the Better Babies Contest at the Indiana State Fair.

One hundred years later, Indiana now has the opportunity to reflect on the history and evaluate the legacy of its role in the eugenics movement. The Indiana Eugenics Digital Library (IEDL) is a collection of digitized public resources specifically selected to tell the story of individual leaders and ordinary citizens who were affected by this time in history. The historical documents, photographs, and manuscripts have been brought together from the IN State Library, the IN State Archives and the IN University School of Medicine to tell the story of the eugenics movement.