“A defective American would have less tendency to reproduce the defect, by marriage with a foreigner of a different race” 157. Alexander Graham Bell. TLS, two
pages, 8 x 10.5, January 25, 1912. Letter to Edwin Elsbach, advocating marriage practices among young deaf persons that can decrease the risk of handing down their genetic defect to their offspring. In part: “There is always a strong tendency in offspring to revert to the normal type of the race; and if marriages are so contracted that the tendency to the inheritance of the defect exists in the family of one of the partners, the tendency to inheritance is diluted, so to speak, by the influence of the other, if he belongs to a family which is free from the defect...A defective American would have less tendency to reproduce the defect, by marriage with a foreigner of a different race. The further apart in blood the marriage partners are, the greater the tendency in the offspring to revert to the normal type of the race. Defective persons should especially, be careful to avoid marrying blood relations. This class of union tends to increase, the offspring, the family peculiarities, whatever they may be. Where a defective strain exists the defect is more liable to be increased, than in cases where there are no common ancestors. I send by separate mail, a copy of my paper entitled ‘Marriage, an Address to the Deaf’, in which I try to explain to young deaf persons those conditions of marriage that would be liable to increase any tendency they may have to hand down their defect to their offspring, and those conditions that would lessen the tendency.” Intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, and light overall haloing to signature, otherwise fine condition. The son of a deaf mother, and later husband to a deaf wife, Bell’s interest in communication and sound was deep-rooted. While experimenting on his ‘harmonic telegraph’ at the start of the 1870s, Bell opened his School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech in Boston, attracting a large number of deaf pupils, including his most famous, Helen Keller. While he did a great deal of good in teaching the deaf community, he also believed that deafness was something to be eradicated and became a major figure in the American eugenics movement. At the time of this letter, he was the newly appointed chairman of the board of scientific advisers to the Eugenics Record Office, encouraging people deemed to be ‘a defective variety of the human race’ to avoid reproducing and promoting the compulsory sterilization of such ‘defective’ people. An incredibly interesting letter involving one of the most complex and controversial subjects in Bell’s life. RR Auction COA.…(MB $200)
158. Judah P. Benjamin. British-born American politician and
lawyer (1811–1884) who, after serving in the US Senate and rejecting nomination to the Supreme Court, served variously as attorney general, secretary of war, and secretary of state for the Confederacy. Civil War–dated partly-printed DS, signed “J. P. Benjamin,” one page, 8.25 x 10.25, December 31, 1861. Benjamin informs James H. Holman that “the President has appointed you Lieutenant Colonel 1st Tenn Regt PA In the Provisional Army in the service of the Confederate States…Report for duty to Col. Turney.” Signed at the conclusion by Benjamin as secretary of war of the Confederate States of America. Repaired separations to horizontal folds (not affecting the signature), scattered staining and soiling, and a bit of paper loss to lower horizontal fold, otherwise very good condition. Oversized. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.…(MB $200)
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