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Parents' Information Bureau Ltd. fonds.
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Physical description
.5 m of textual records
3 photographs : b&w ; 20 x 25 cm or smaller
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Administrative history
The Parents' Information Bureau (PIB) was a clinic for family planning and birth control set up by A.R. Kaufman of the Kaufman Rubber Company in the 1930's in Kitchener, Ont. Kaufman became interested in birth control during the Great Depression after determining that seasonal employees with large families were disproportionately impacted by layoffs. He began offering family planning services to his employees, eventually extending them to anyone in Canada with the founding of the PIB. At its peak, the organization employed approximately 50 people in locations across the country who provided services to families in their homes, rather than at clinics. The model allowed families to order supplies by mail, receiving kits that included spermicides, condoms and information about purchasing additional items like diaphragms.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Accrual consists of material belonging to A.R. Kaufman relating to the incorporation and operation of the Parents' Information Bureau in Kitchener, 1935 to 1976. Includes letters patent, financial and accounting records, publications issued by the Bureau, photographs and clippings.
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Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated in 2005 by the Kaufman family.
Arrangement
Arranged in six series:
1. Incorporation;
2. Financial records;
3. Literature: numbered;
4. Literature: unnumbered;
5. Photographs;
6. Clippings.
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Availability of other formats
Select items are available online as part of the Parents' Information Bureau fonds on the Waterloo Digital Library.
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Associated materials
Material relating to the Dorothea Palmer trial can be found in WA 17.
Some of A.R. Kaufman's personal birth-control related material can be found in GA 173, including scrapbooks he maintained relating to birth control in general, to the Bureau, and to the trial of Dorothea Palmer.
Accruals
General note
The views expressed in Parent's Information Bureau records reflect the era in which they were produced. They include family planning thinking 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. Demeaning language about lower class and disabled people appear throughout.
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Description by Jane Britton.