Eugenics in Minnesota: Charles Fremont Dight: Primary Sources: Archives & Records

Charles Fremont Dight Papers.
Correspondence, photographs, lecture notes, essays, manuscripts of articles, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, radio scripts, editorials, pamphlets, flyers, bills, minutes, and printed matter related to the life and career of a Minneapolis medical professor, socialist politician, and leader of the eugenics movement in Minnesota. Of particular interest for this topic are his writings on eugenics and materials about his leadership in the Minnesota movement to pass legislation regarding eugenic sterilization. Included in this collection is Dight’s 1933 letter to Hitler.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

Faribault State School and Hospital

• Case Conference Minutes.
  Records in this archival collection (1939–1960) include discussion cases, which were considered relative to placement, sterilization, and transfer within the institution, and prospects for adjustment to community life if discharged. Most discussion is of named inmates, rather than general policies or procedures.
  MNHS call number: 127.H.8.2F
   
• Miscellaneous Medical Records, 1880-1949
  Record of sterilization cases (1916-1937).  The records generally contain the following information: name, application number; background data, such as age, date of admission, description of condition, and psychological evaluations; nature of illness; treatments given; and discharge and/or death date.
  Restriction: These records contain personal data; you may apply to use this record in accordance with the State Archives access statement. 
  MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

Minnesota Department of Public Welfare

• Policy and Research Office Miscellaneous Research Reports and Studies.
  Material on eugenic sterilization.
  MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (State Archives: Public Welfare Department, Policy and Research Office).
   
• Public Institutions Division. Medical Health Unit: Correspondence. 
  Two folders, labeled "Dight Institute", containing letters of Dr. Royal Gray, Medical Health Unit chief and member of the Dight Institute Advisory Committee. These files also contain copies of the Advisory Committee meeting minutes, annual reports and other records relating to Dr. Dight, including a biography and a copy of his will.
  MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (Public Welfare Department: Public Institutions Division: Mental Health Unit).
   
• Psychological Services Bureau Records.
  Administrative subject files, which deal mainly with patient information and services, and background and informational data. The subject files include information on sterilization, IQ testing in schools, and various treatments used for the “feeble-minded.” There are also reports, articles, and speeches done by Bureau staff, particularly Director Frederick Kuhlmann. The specimen set of Kuhlmann’s test of mental development (ca. 1958) includes the 1939 manual “Tests of Mental Development: A Complete Scale for Individual Examinations” and its supplementary score sheet and some of the testing materials.
  MNHS call number:  Digital Finding Aid

Call for a New Social Order: Some Activities of Charles Fremont Dight, by Charles Fremont Dight.
Minneapolis: [s.n], 1936.
MNHS call number: H 35 .D5

History of the Early Stages of the Organized Eugenics Movement for Human Betterment in Minnesota, by Charles F. Dight.
Minneapolis: Minnesota Eugenics Society, 1935.
MNHS call number: HQ 750 .A2 D57

Gale Family Library
Minnesota Historical Society Library

Located on the Second Floor of the Minnesota History Center
345 West Kellogg Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55102

Library Hours:
Thursday to Saturday: 10am to 4pm
Sunday to Wednesday: Closed
 

More Information on Visiting the Library

Contact Us:

651-259-3300

Email Us

Visit our Main Website