Hawaiian materials, Eugenics Record Office Records
Culture:
Hawaiian includes: Kānaka Maoli, Hawaiʻi Maoli
Language: English
Date: 1926-1944
Contributor: Bunker, Frank F. (Frank Forest), 1873-1944
Subject: Eugenics | Anthropometry | Demographics | Children
Type: Still Image | Text
Genre: Essays | Newspaper clippings | Correspondence
Extent: 2 folders
Description: The Eugenics Record Office Records consist of 330.5 linear feet of materials relating to the ERO, founded in 1910 for the study of human heredity and as a repository for genetic data on human traits. The Eugenics Record Office Papers (1670-1964) contain trait schedules, newspaper clippings, manuscript essays, pedigree charts, article abstracts, reprints, magazine articles, bibliographies, photographs, hair samples, postcard pictures, card files, and some correspondence which document the projects of the Eugenics Record Office during the thirty-four years of its operation. Hawaiian materials can be found in Series I. Trait Files. Folder "A:974 x 96. Caucasian x Hawaiian" (1942) in Box #62 contains an article about the many combinations of races in the Hawaiian Islands, with photos of people of Hawaiian, white, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, Samoan, Portuguese, Hindu, and Danish descent, and a slip noting a cross reference in Folder A:97-35-39. Folder "A:97·51 x 96. Chinese - Hawaiian" (1926-1927) in Box #64 contains a 1926 clipping (with photo) about Eleanor Lukela, possibly the "most perfect child" because of her Chinese-Hawaiian heritage; a three-page abstract from Porteus and Babcock about Chinese-Hawaiian traits; and a letter from Frank F. Bunker of the Carnegie Institute to Dr. Charles B. Davenport, director of the Department of Genetics, mentioning Bunker's own experience with "the splendid qualities of the children of Chinese and Hawaiian marriages," but drawing the attention to the importance of environment and parental involvement with the children rather than attributing it only to genetics.
Collection: Eugenics Record Office Records Mss.Ms.Coll.77