Eugenics at the Royal Society: 1860-1950

This research project will provide the first detailed examination of the relationship between
the Royal Society and eugenics between 1860-1950.

The project connects with ongoing efforts to critically revaluate the history of eugenics, and
involves serious engagement and critical investigation of underutilised and unexplored
archives 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 more
accessible

There 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 an
evidence based approach that seeks to establish: who was awarded grants? What were
these grants spent on? Where were these individuals? What did they publish? Did eugenic
ideas, values, or concepts transcend to any other areas of their work? What degree of
support 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 complete
understanding of the interdependence of race, class, and empire in the construction of
eugenic theory and its wider movement. Population studies, anthropological studies,
ethnological studies, statistical, economic, and genetic advancements will be deconstructed
and presented to display how they share eugenic ideals and how they are concerned and
intertwined with class and race in Britain.

The Royal Society being historically the most prestigious, esteemed, and respectable
scientific institution in Britain, if not the world, makes it the perfect focus for this study. An
institution 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 similar
institutions with such pasts. The Royal Society is an independent Fellowship by Royal
Charter, and therefore must operate in the public interest. Taking ownership and
confronting the Royal Society's historical relationship with eugenics can help improve this
aspect of the Charter by being more open and accessible to groups historically targeted and
excluded by eugenics.

The project will make use of the extensive archives of the Royal Society pertaining to
eugenics, the bulk of which remain underutilised and unexplored. In particular archival
material relating to:
-Government grants.
-Referee reports.
-Articles submitted and published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society.
-Records of the nomination/election of Fellows of the Royal Society.
-The internal and external correspondence between eugenicists and their
counterparts held within the archives.
From this archival research a good understanding of the relationship between eugenics and
the Royal Society will be established. This will help inform what degree of support,
financially and otherwise, there was for eugenics at the Royal Society. Additionally
highlighting what wider contributions were made by eugenicists to multiple fields and
disciplines, as well as how influential eugenics was on the Royal Society and what legacy of
eugenics remains at the Royal Society (ideologically and physically).
This project will also deploy the tools of digital humanities to analyse the research
quantitatively in order to engage with other disciplines in an attempt to highlight the
permeability of eugenics into supposed empirical, objective research. This process will help
strengthen 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 to
map out networks of key individuals, pieces of work, institutions, and their connections.