Collection SCA545-GA546 - American Eugenics Party publication collection.

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American Eugenics Party publication collection.

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    Collection

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    SCA545-GA546

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    Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

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    Physical description

    1 cm of textual records

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    Archival description area

    Name of creator

    ([196-]-[197-])

    Administrative history

    The American Eugenics Party (AEP) was a right-wing organization that used eugenics and scientific racism to justify its beliefs and political platform. Founded in Los Angeles, California in the 1960s, AEP meetings were held in Long Beach and Santa Barbara. Members of the party included Samuel Andrisani, primary spokesperson and Education Manager; John S. Vanders, public relations manager; and Robert Henderon, chairman of the race relations committee.

    Tenets of the AEP's platform included the importance of racial purity, anti-immigration legislation, the intention to unite all "Caucasian stocks" to fight against the "non-Caucasian genetic threat", limiting government positions to those who pass an AEP test, "incentive economics", limited roles for women, neutrality on the concept of God, access to education based on "hereditary mental ability", limiting media on "dysgenic acts", removing "white defectives" (white people who are not eugenicists) from political positions, eliminating violence-type sports such as boxing, enacting anti-vice laws, enacting environmental legislation, and ensuring only "eugenic marriages" (marriages in which the couple are matched in terms of race, intellect, etc.).

    Custodial history

    Scope and content

    A collection of publications from the American Eugenics Party (AEP), a political party that campaigned in the United States in the 20th century. Relying on eugenics and scientific racism to justify their beliefs, the publications discuss the party's political platforms, as well as their feelings towards women, people with mental illness, Arab, Asian, Black and Jewish people, and "white defectives" a term used by the AEP to refer to white people who supported desegregation.

    Notes area

    Physical condition

    Immediate source of acquisition

    Purchased in 2025 from David Anthem, Bookseller.

    Arrangement

    Publications are arranged alphabetically.

    Language of material

    • English

    Script of material

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      Copyright is retained by the original creators.

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      General note

      Materials in this collection express racist, sexist and ableist views rooted in eugenics, the belief that the genetic makeup of the human population can be improved by limiting the ability of people deemed inferior from reproducing. There are derogatory statements and depictions throughout these publications that may be deeply upsetting and unsettling. These materials are being shared and maintained as they were created in keeping with Special Collections & Archives’ approach to language in archival descriptions, which prioritizes speaking openly about and clearly identifying problematic, harmful, and otherwise offensive records in the department’s holdings. This approach, while potentially upsetting, allows for the critical assessment and questioning of historical material by contemporary researchers.

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      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      Created by JB Nov. 2025.
      Revised June 2026 by DR and KLG.

      Language of description

      • English

      Script of description

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