Beautiful Babies
Eugenic Display of the White Infant Body, 1854-1922
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v43i2.23Keywords:
Baptism, Visual Culture, EugenicsAbstract
Baby shows and baby contests in the late nineteenth century United States, beginning as a form of entertainment at agricultural fairs, were co-opted in the early twentieth century as a public relations vehicle for the eugenics movement. This article connects this history of display of the infant body with white Protestant practices of bodily display in infant baptism as represented etiquette manuals, women's magazines, and works of art. The author argues that infants became unwitting participants in practices of display that marked them as members of affluent white society.
References
Black, Edwin. 2008. War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race. New York and London: Four Walls Eight Windows.
Kevles, Daniel. 1998. In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. N.d. “The Baptism,” LACMA Collections Online. http://collectionsonline.lacma.org.
Pearson, Susan J. 2008. “‘Infantile Specimens’: Showing Babies in Nineteenth-Century America.” Journal of Social History 42:341-370.
Post, Emily. 1922. Etiquette. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
Rosen, Christine. 2004. Preaching Eugenics: Religious Leaders and the American Eugenics Movement. New York: Oxford University Press.
Selden, Steven. 2005. “Transforming Better Babies into Fitter Families: Archival Resources and the History of the American Eugenics Movement, 1908-1930.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 149:199-225.
---. 1999. Inheriting Shame: The Story of Eugenics and Racism in America. New York: Teachers College Press.
Smith, Shawn. 1998. “Baby’s Picture is Always Treasured: Eugenics and the Reproduction of Whiteness in the Family Photograph Album.” American Archives: Gender, Race, and Class in Visual Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kevles, Daniel. 1998. In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. N.d. “The Baptism,” LACMA Collections Online. http://collectionsonline.lacma.org.
Pearson, Susan J. 2008. “‘Infantile Specimens’: Showing Babies in Nineteenth-Century America.” Journal of Social History 42:341-370.
Post, Emily. 1922. Etiquette. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
Rosen, Christine. 2004. Preaching Eugenics: Religious Leaders and the American Eugenics Movement. New York: Oxford University Press.
Selden, Steven. 2005. “Transforming Better Babies into Fitter Families: Archival Resources and the History of the American Eugenics Movement, 1908-1930.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 149:199-225.
---. 1999. Inheriting Shame: The Story of Eugenics and Racism in America. New York: Teachers College Press.
Smith, Shawn. 1998. “Baby’s Picture is Always Treasured: Eugenics and the Reproduction of Whiteness in the Family Photograph Album.” American Archives: Gender, Race, and Class in Visual Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Published
2014-04-22
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Stroud, I. (2014). Beautiful Babies: Eugenic Display of the White Infant Body, 1854-1922. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 43(2), 23-26. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v43i2.23
