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Toward a racial abyss: Eugenics, Wickliffe Draper, and the origins of The Pioneer Fund
Author(s) -
Kenny Michael G.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/jhbs.10063
Subject(s) - eugenics , insider , context (archaeology) , race (biology) , sociology , politics , racism , political science , environmental ethics , law , gender studies , history , philosophy , archaeology
The Pioneer Fund was created in 1937 “to conduct or aid in conducting study and research into problems of heredity and eugenics…and problems of race betterment with special reference to the people of the United States.” The Fund was endowed by Colonel Wickliffe Preston Draper, a New England textile heir, and perpetuates his legacy through an active program of grants, some of the more controversial in aid of research on racial group differences. Those presently associated with the Fund maintain that it has made a substantial contribution to the behavioral and social sciences, but insider accounts of Pioneer's history oversimplify its past and smooth over its more tendentious elements. This article examines the social context and intellectual background to Pioneer's origins, with a focus on Col. Draper himself, his concerns about racial degeneration, and his relation to the eugenics movement. In conclusion, it evaluates the official history of the fund. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.