Eugenics Records Office

The Eugenics Records Office, or the ERO, was located at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was Davenport's attempt to try to subtly register genetic backgrounds of all Americans. It sought to accumulate and study the records of physical and mental characteristics of human families and to educate the public as to classes of fit and unfit marriages.

The ERO went to charitable organizations and mental institutions to obtain records. Davenport also sought to collect information on prominent, successful families, so that he would know the traits of the "ones worth preserving."

The ERO aimed to lobby politicians to get support of eugenic principles, even in the absence of scientific evidence. The ERO was trying to take the research that they and other eugenic societies had done and turn it into the American governing policy.

Bell worked on ERO's scientific board which worked on issues such as "the consequences of marriage between different races", "the study of America's most effective bloodlines", and "restricting the strains that require care".

Back to Prominent figures