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This project was made possible in part through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Connecticut State Library on behalf of the State Archives and Conservation ConneCTion.
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Collection open for research by appointment.
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Records of the CT Society of Social Hygiene, Hartford Medical Society Historical Library
Acquisition information unavailable.
Collection processed by Jennifer D. Miglus
“We, the undersigned, realizing the serious menace to humanity – moral, physical, and financial, – of the diseases which have their origin in the social evil, agree to organize ourselves into a body for the purpose of studying the means, - moral sanitary, and administrative, - which may seem to us best suited to limit the spread of these diseases.”
This petition, signed by 110 people from Hartford and the surrounding area, launched the Connecticut Society of Social Hygiene in 1910.
A description of the working of the Society is given in the first page of their scrapbook:
“The work of this Society is carried on by means of the Executive Board with its five committees; the General Educational, Treatment, Social Evil, Legislative, and Finance, assisted by a Field Secretary and a Special Research Worker. The free lecture and research worker is supported by voluntary contributions from individual members, the membership dues covering office expenses.”
The Society published pamphlets on “Sex Hygiene”, in multiple languages for broad distribution. They financed the production of a play: “Damaged Goods” showing the disastrous effect a husband's phliandering has on his innocent wife. They had a traveling library with titles such as “The House of Bondage” and “My Little Sister” along with “The Education of the Young in Sex Hygiene” and “The Power of Womanhood”. The Society also sponsored legislation.
Dr. Thomas N. Hepburn, father of the actress Katherine Hepburn, was a prominent Hartford urologist and one of the founding members of the CT Society of Social Hygiene. He was secretary of the group throughout its existence. Many prominent men and women of Hartford and surrounding towns were members. In some ways their thinking was very progressive; for example they encouraged age-appropriate sex education for children.
Although the main purpose of the Society was healthy living and specifically the prevention of venereal disease, their efforts sometimes crossed over into eugenics. In one example, the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting from January 18, 1913 state: “. . . the bills concerning rape and the sterilization of degenerates prepared by the Legislative Committee were presented by Dean Rogers.”
Collection has 3 series:
Series 1: scrapbook, with sections on Literature, Lectures and Legislation.
Series 2: promotional posters created by the American Social Hygiene Association ca.1914.
Series 3: typed minutes for all Executive Board meetings.
The collection consists of 3 series: Scrapbook, Posters and Minutes.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
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Click to view digital rendering of: Cover
paragraph describing how society operates
Click to view digital rendering of: p.1
Publication: Report of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Society of Social Hygiene, November 23, 1914
Click to view digital rendering of: p.2
Publication: Report of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Society of Social Hygiene, November 29, 1915
Click to view digital rendering of: p.3
Paragraph describing the publications of the society
Click to view digital rendering of: p.4
3 leaflets on sex-hygiene: English, 1913; Polish, 1912; Italian, 1911
Click to view digital rendering of: p.5
3 leaflets on sex-hygiene: French, 1912; English, Sex-hygiene for young men, 1911; English, Sex-hygiene for young women, 1913.
Click to view digital rendering of: p.6
3 leaflets on sex-hygiene: Information for persions having venereal disease, 1911; Recommended literature, [undated]; The so-called sexual necessity in man [undated].
Click to view digital rendering of: p.7
Leaflet: Sex-hygiene for parents. . . Handbook of Connecticut Statutes Relating to Social Hygiene, published by the Social Evil Committee of the CT Society of Social Hygiene, 1911
Click to view digital rendering of: p.8
Paragraph describing the lectures and dramatic readings offered by the society. Leaflet describing the same.
Click to view digital rendering of: p.9
Another edition of leaflet describing the lectures, readings and traveling library of the society. Promotional postcard of the play "Damaged Goods" by Eugene Brieux
Click to view digital rendering of: p.10
The list of books contained in the traveling libraries of the society
Click to view digital rendering of: p.11
Paragraph on legislation introduced by the society to the CT legislature
Click to view digital rendering of: p.12
Letter sent by Chairman of the Legislative Committee to members of the CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: p.13
An Act Defining the Word Frequenter: passed by legislature 1915
Click to view digital rendering of: p.14
Two bills presented to the State of Connecticut General Assembly, January 1915: not passed
Click to view digital rendering of: p.15
Paragraph on treatment of people with venereal disease in the Hartford area
Click to view digital rendering of: p.16
Report of the Commission on a Reformatory for Women to the General Assembly, 1915. This report was endorsed by the CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: p.17
Report of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Society of Social Hygiene, November 24, 1916
Click to view digital rendering of: p.18
Leaflet: Connecticut Prison Association Committee on Delinquent Women, Miss Mary Goodman, Chairman, Hartford. A State Home for Women in Connecticut: Why Do We Need It?
Click to view digital rendering of: p.18 verso
An invocation
Click to view digital rendering of: p.19
Click to view digital rendering of: inside back cover
Click to view digital rendering of: A unanimous opinion
Click to view digital rendering of: Amusements and their environment
Click to view digital rendering of: An antidote for immorality
Click to view digital rendering of: Application
Click to view digital rendering of: Demonstration
Click to view digital rendering of: Health, habits, handicaps
Click to view digital rendering of: Industry conserves morals
Click to view digital rendering of: Interpreting the fable of the stork
Click to view digital rendering of: Marriage and the law
Click to view digital rendering of: Investigation
Click to view digital rendering of: Education
Click to view digital rendering of: Guide, philosopher and friend
Click to view digital rendering of: Industry menacing morals
Click to view digital rendering of: Marriage: a sacred union
Click to view digital rendering of: Present opportunities for sex education
Click to view digital rendering of: Progress: 1909, 1914
Click to view digital rendering of: Progress: 1876, 1914
Click to view digital rendering of: Progress: ancient law of Athens, law of modern civilization
Click to view digital rendering of: Religion fulfilling its opportunity
Click to view digital rendering of: Stop, look and think
Click to view digital rendering of: The home and its environment
Click to view digital rendering of: The lawless union
Click to view digital rendering of: The makeshift home
Click to view digital rendering of: The questioning child
Click to view digital rendering of: The unbroken chain of life
Click to view digital rendering of: Venereal disease
Click to view digital rendering of: Ten chapters on social hygiene [missing chapter 6]
Click to view digital rendering of: Parents, chapter 1
Click to view digital rendering of: Home, chapter 2
Click to view digital rendering of: Knowledge, chapter 3
Click to view digital rendering of: Recreation, chapter 4
Click to view digital rendering of: Occupation, chapter 5
Click to view digital rendering of: Education, chapter 7
Click to view digital rendering of: Religion, chapter 8
Click to view digital rendering of: Medicine, chapter 9
Click to view digital rendering of: Law, chapter 10
Click to view digital rendering of: Original members who signed Mrs. Hepburn's petition
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: scrap of notes on Rx from T.N. Hepburn inserted here
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Handwritten notes and typed statistics. Perhaps used at an executive committee meeting. Found interleaved.
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee meeting, CT Society of Social Hygiene
Click to view digital rendering of: Certificate of Incorporation of CT Social Hygiene Association
Click to view digital rendering of: By-laws of CT Social Hygiene Association, Inc.
Click to view digital rendering of: Board of Directors, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: Executive Committee, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: Board of Directors, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: Board of Directors, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: Board of Directors, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: 10th Annual Meeting CT Social Hygiene Assn., minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: Board of Directors, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: Amendments to by-laws
Click to view digital rendering of: Special Meeting: Board of Directors, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: Board of Directors, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: Board of Directors, minutes
Click to view digital rendering of: 11th Annual Meeting CT Social Hygiene Assn., minutes