The Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) was an American

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

organization established in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

in 1928 by

E.S. Gosney Ezra Seymour Gosney (November 6, 1855 – September 14, 1942) was an American philanthropist and eugenics, eugenicist. In 1928 he founded the Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) in Pasadena, California, with the stated aim "to foster and aid constr ...

and

Rufus B. von KleinSmid Rufus Bernhard von KleinSmid (1875 – July 9, 1964), also spelled Kleinsmidt, was the seventh president of the University of Arizona (1914–1921) and the fifth president of the University of Southern California (1921–1947). Life and career ...

with the aim "to foster and aid constructive and educational forces for the protection and betterment of the human family in body, mind, character, and citizenship". It primarily served to compile and distribute information about

compulsory sterilization Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, is a government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually done throug ...

legislation in the United States, for the purposes of

. The initial board of trustees were Gosney, Henry Mauris Robinson (a Los Angeles banker),

George Dock George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

(a Pasadena physician),

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...

(chancellor of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Charles Goethe Charles Matthias Goethe (March 28, 1875 – July 10, 1966) was an American eugenicist, entrepreneur, land developer, philanthropist, conservationist, founder of the Eugenics Society of Northern California, and a native and lifelong resident of ...

(a Sacramento philanthropist), Justin Miller (dean of the college of law at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

), Otis Castle (a Los Angeles attorney), Joe G. Crick (a Pasadena horticulturist), and biologist/eugenicist

Paul Popenoe Paul Bowman Popenoe (October 16, 1888 – June 19, 1979) was an American agricultural explorer and eugenicist. He was an influential advocate of the compulsory sterilization of mentally ill people and people with mental disabilities, and the fa ...

. Later members included

Lewis Terman Lewis Madison Terman (January 15, 1877 – December 21, 1956) was an American psychologist and author. He was noted as a pioneer in educational psychology in the early 20th century at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. He is best known f ...

(a Stanford psychologist best known for creating the Stanford-Binet test of IQ),

Robert Andrews Millikan Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American experimental physicist honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the elementary electric charge and for his work on the photoelectric e ...

(Chair of the Executive Council of

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

), William B. Munro (a

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

professor of political science), and

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

professors Herbert M. Evans (anatomy) and Samuel J. Holmes (zoology). After Gosney's death in 1942, Gosney's daughter Lois Castle and the HBF's board liquidated HBF with its funds going to form the Gosney Research Fund at Caltech in 1943. The archives of the Human Betterment Foundation are currently stored at Caltech.

Later public disavowal

On account of Millikan's affiliation with the Human Betterment Foundation, in January 2021, the Caltech Board of Trustees authorized removal of Millikan and Gosney's names (and the names of four other historical figures affiliated with the Foundation), from campus buildings.Rosenbaum, Thomas
Statement from the President
California Institute of Technology, Accessed January 15, 2021. In June 2020, the University of Southern California removed the name of von KleinSmid from campus buildings on account of his association with eugenics.

References

* "The Human Betterment Foundation," editorial reprinted from ''Eugenics'', Vol. 3, No. 3: 110–113, in ''Collected papers on eugenic sterilization in California'' (Pasadena: Human Betterment Foundation, 1930). * E.S. Gosney and Paul B. Popenoe, ''Sterilization for Human Betterment: A Summary of Results of 6,000 Operations in California, 1909–1929'' (New York: Macmillan, 1929).

External links

Eugenic Science in California: The Papers of E. S. Gosney and the Human Betterment Foundation
{{Authority control Eugenics in the United States Organizations based in Pasadena, California Organizations established in 1928 1943 disestablishments in California Organizations based in Calgary Eugenics organizations 1928 establishments in California

Later public disavowal

See also

References

External links