Eugenics at the Royal Society: 1860-1950

这个研究项目将提供1860-1950年间皇家学会和优生学之间关系的第一个详细检查。该项目与正在进行的批判性重新评估优生学历史的努力有关，并涉及对皇家学会未充分利用和未开发的档案的认真参与和批判性调查。该项目将促进更广泛的数字化进程，这本身就是使皇家学会及其档案更容易访问的运动的一部分。越来越多的机构正在面对他们与优生学的历史联系、参与和支持。这种对抗不是政治迫害，而是一种基于证据的方法，旨在确定：谁获得了资助？这些拨款都花在什么地方了？这些人在哪里？他们发表了什么？优生屠杀的思想、价值观或概念是否超越了他们工作的任何其他领域？这些人在个人和机构层面上受到了多大程度的支持和反对？该项目将首次记录这段历史，并在构建生源理论及其更广泛的运动中，对种族、阶级和帝国的相互依存关系有更全面的理解。人口研究、人类学研究、民族学研究、统计学、经济学和遗传学的进步将被解构并呈现，以展示它们是如何分享优生理想的，以及它们是如何与英国的阶级和种族联系在一起的。英国皇家学会在历史上是英国乃至全世界最负盛名、最受尊敬、最受尊敬的科学机构，这使它成为这项研究的完美焦点。一个如此高地位的机构想要以这样的方式面对自己的过去，这是朝着正确方向迈出的一大步，只能作为有这样过去的类似机构的一个好榜样。英国皇家学会是根据《皇家宪章》成立的独立学会，因此必须为公众利益服务。承担责任，直面皇家学会与优生学的历史关系，可以帮助改善《宪章》的这一方面，因为它对历史上被优生学所针对和排斥的群体更加开放和容易接近。该项目将利用英国皇家学会有关优生学的大量档案，其中大部分尚未得到充分利用和探索。特别是与以下有关的档案材料：-政府拨款。裁判的报告。-在《皇家学会哲学汇刊》上提交和发表的文章。-提名/选举皇家学会会员的记录。-优生学家和他们的同行之间的内部和外部通信保存在档案中。通过这些档案研究，我们将更好地理解优生学与英国皇家学会之间的关系。这将有助于了解英国皇家学会在财政和其他方面对优生学的支持程度。此外，还强调优生学家对多个领域和学科做出了更广泛的贡献，以及优生学对皇家学会的影响，以及优生学在皇家学会的遗产（思想上和物质上）。该项目还将利用数字人文学科的工具对研究进行定量分析，以便与其他学科合作，试图突出优生学在所谓的实证、客观研究中的渗透性。这一过程将有助于加强整体证据，因为它将纳入更广泛的视角，并有助于用他们熟悉的语言向更广泛的受众发表讲话。数字人文学科还将用于绘制关键个人、作品、机构及其联系的网络。

This research project will provide the first detailed examination of the relationship betweenthe Royal Society and eugenics between 1860-1950.The project connects with ongoing efforts to critically revaluate the history of eugenics, andinvolves serious engagement and critical investigation of underutilised and unexploredarchives at the Royal Society. The project will contribute to a wider process of digitisation,which is itself part of a movement to make the Royal Society and its archives moreaccessibleThere is a growing atmosphere in which institutions are confronting their historical links,involvement, and support of eugenics. This confrontation is not a witch-hunt, but rather anevidence based approach that seeks to establish: who was awarded grants? What werethese grants spent on? Where were these individuals? What did they publish? Did eugenicideas, values, or concepts transcend to any other areas of their work? What degree ofsupport and opposition did these individuals face at personal and institutional levels?This project will document this history for the first time and espouse a more completeunderstanding of the interdependence of race, class, and empire in the construction ofeugenic theory and its wider movement. Population studies, anthropological studies,ethnological studies, statistical, economic, and genetic advancements will be deconstructedand presented to display how they share eugenic ideals and how they are concerned andintertwined with class and race in Britain.The Royal Society being historically the most prestigious, esteemed, and respectablescientific institution in Britain, if not the world, makes it the perfect focus for this study. Aninstitution of such high standing wanting to confront their own past in such a way is a massive step in the right direction and can only serve as a good example to similarinstitutions with such pasts. The Royal Society is an independent Fellowship by RoyalCharter, and therefore must operate in the public interest. Taking ownership andconfronting the Royal Society's historical relationship with eugenics can help improve thisaspect of the Charter by being more open and accessible to groups historically targeted andexcluded by eugenics.The project will make use of the extensive archives of the Royal Society pertaining toeugenics, the bulk of which remain underutilised and unexplored. In particular archivalmaterial relating to:-Government grants.-Referee reports.-Articles submitted and published in the Philosophical Transactions of the RoyalSociety.-Records of the nomination/election of Fellows of the Royal Society.-The internal and external correspondence between eugenicists and theircounterparts held within the archives.From this archival research a good understanding of the relationship between eugenics andthe Royal Society will be established. This will help inform what degree of support,financially and otherwise, there was for eugenics at the Royal Society. Additionallyhighlighting what wider contributions were made by eugenicists to multiple fields anddisciplines, as well as how influential eugenics was on the Royal Society and what legacy ofeugenics remains at the Royal Society (ideologically and physically).This project will also deploy the tools of digital humanities to analyse the researchquantitatively in order to engage with other disciplines in an attempt to highlight thepermeability of eugenics into supposed empirical, objective research. This process will helpstrengthen the overall evidence as it will incorporate a broader perspective and help speak to a wider audience in a language familiar to them. Digital humanities will also be used tomap out networks of key individuals, pieces of work, institutions, and their connections.