Human Sterilization - Tackling Difficult Topics

I came across this pamphlet in Governor of Washington State, Ernest Lister's (1913-1919) papers. This is an example of finding a distraction while research something else. As mentioned before (see post from June 2023, Meet Ollie Parrish), I am interested in the Women's Industrial Home and Clinic that opened briefly from September 1920 to March 1921. My question was why was it opened and what else happened to determine it was no longer needed? I took a closer look at what else was happening during this time period. In Washington State and possibly in other states, looking into the Governor's records can show what issues are brought to the Governor. This file on "Red Light Abatement" had letters and brochures from Purity conferences in other states. A fear of loose women and the passing of venereal diseases were on the forefront of those writing to the governor as well as a fear the "wrong" people were procreating. To find out more about this in Oregon, here is a link.

Washington State had a Girls School - otherwise known as a reformatory for women under the age of 18. The Girls School opened in 1914 and according to the first biennial report submitted, "Believing that every girl would rather be a nice girl than not a nice girl, if properly directed..." the superintendent Mary Campbell goes on to say keeping them busy is a necessity. Apparently, the Girls School did not have enough room for everyone who needed help. My personal theory was that the families on the East Side of Washington did not want to send their girls to the West Side, but rather keep them closer to home. Governor Lister opened the Women's Industrial Home and Clinic to train women to do "honest work." and Governor Louis F. Hart (1919-1921) thought it redundant and closed it right away. Letters would stream into Governor Hart and others after him asking about its reopening.

This Purity Movement and Human Sterilization are two things I have not researched thoroughly, but imagine I will start finding things as I move forward. I did some digging in the Board of Health records before I left Washington State to see if I could find anything out about either topic and did find some leads. Of course, this is all a distraction to my current project, the history of the Washington State Archives. I am sure I will return to this at some point.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Writing Goals - 2024

Image
 I spent most of today in my pajamas looking through what I accomplished in 2023 as far as writing goals and then looked ahead at 2024. I follow Sarra Cannon on YouTube and she hosted a livestream all about planning writing goals in 2024. I had also downloaded a couple other planning/reflection tools from Abbie Emmons  and Katie Allen . But Tracy, you say, it's January 13th - aren't you a little behind? Nope, no I am not. I have been trying to shift my planning and goals from the typical New Year's resolutions to something more spread out. I find the time as we go into the darkest part of the year the best time to plant seeds, see what takes, and get really curious about what I really want. I think of Spring as the time for things to come alive - specifically February 1 - Imbolc - the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox as a ripe time to see what seeds are sprouting. I suffer from shiny new thing syndrome, anyone else? It is so easy for me to j
Read more

Changes - Going Home

Image
Well, it has been a minute since I posted anything. As I am typing this, I am staring out the window of our new apartment in Columbus, Ohio. For many of you, you may not know that I am from Newark, Ohio. I was born and raised in Ohio. When I was young, I dreamed of seeing the big wide world and so when we left Cincinnati, Ohio in 2007 and moved to Washington State, I did not dream we would return to my home state. Columbus was the big city for me growing up. We came here to do our back to school shopping sometimes, we would come to gospel meetings in various churches (Canal Winchester, Hilliard, Worthington, Broad St, to name a few) in the greater Columbus area. We frequented a place called Children's Palace to occasionally get a new toy. As I got older, I would come to Columbus to visit the zoo, go to a show, go clubbing, visit friends, cruise High Street, and of course visit COSI. I had a violin teacher in Bexley.  My brother played indoor soccer in Westerville. I had friends who
Read more

Traveling with Strangers

Image
Okay, maybe not COMPLETE strangers. How many of you would just take a 10 day road trip with a friend and someone you don't really know? Would you sleep in the same space with them to save money? I did that. Maybe it was the way I was raised, but I have no worries about sleeping in spaces with strangers. Okay, not COMPLETE strangers...again I emphasize that. I know that for some of us, myself included we have bodily functions and certain rituals that keep us from being in close proximity to others especially ones that are not part of your intimate circle. Even then, you may not consider anyone into that part of your world, not even your significant other.  For someone who has a difficult time being with people for more than a few hours - this was a challenge. When I moved to Washington State, my circle of friends got smaller. I started spending a lot more time alone. It was a shift from being in a larger family and then being around friends and in social situations. It would not be
Read more