Browsing by Subject "Oscar McCulloch"

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    The Eugenic Origins of Indiana's Muscatatuck Colony: 1920-2005
    (2020-09) Bragg, Abigail Nicole; Nelson, Elizabeth; Morgan, Anita; Cramer, Kevin
    This thesis examines the widely unknown history and origins of Muscatatuck Colony, located in Butlerville, Indiana. The national eugenics movement impacted the United States politically, medically, legally, and socially. While the United States established mental institutions prior to the eugenics movement, many institutions, including ones in Indiana, were founded as eugenic tools to advance the agenda of achieving a “purer” society. Muscatatuck was one such state institution founded during this national movement. I explore various elements that made the national eugenics movement effective, how Indiana helped advance the movement, and how all these elements impacted Muscatatuck’s founding. I investigate the language used to describe people that were considered “mentally inferior,” specifically who the “feeble-minded” were and how Americans were grouped into this category. I research commonly held beliefs by eugenicists of this time-period, eugenic methods implemented, and how these discussions and actions led to the establishment of Muscatatuck in 1920. Muscatatuck Colony, though a byproduct of the national eugenics movement, outlived this scientific effort. Toward the mid and late twentieth century, Muscatatuck leadership executed institutional change to best reflect American society’s evolving thoughts on mental health and how best to treat people with mental disabilities. Muscatatuck Colony reveals a complicated narrative of how best to treat or care for people within these institutions, a complex narrative that many mental institutions share.
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    Three Necessary Things: The Indianapolis Free Kindergarten and Children's Aid Society, 1880-1920
    (2010) Gobel, Erin J.; Morgan, Anita; Barrows, Robert G. (Robert Graham), 1946-; Kostroun, Daniella J., 1970-
    A group of well-to-do women formally organized the Indianapolis Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Society with the goal to open kindergartens for children like Onis Williams. Reverend Oscar C. McCulloch, a social gospel proponent, was influential in organizing these women as well as several other Indianapolis charitable organizations. The clubwomen of the Indianapolis Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Society collected funds and goods from local businesses and wealthy businessmen to support their work; the clubwomen also hosted teas, parties, and an annual ball to raise money. At first, the women of the Indianapolis Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Society (hereafter IFK) opened kindergartens and distributed clothing to young children in the poorest districts of the city. Over time, however, IFK expanded to include adult programs, programs for children of all ages, and opened a teachers’ training school. This thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter will focus on the Indiana Primary and Normal Training School, the teacher training school run by IFK. The second chapter will discuss the various social and academic programs available to Indianapolis children, including the actual kindergarten. The third chapter will focus on six different programs available to mothers whose children attended kindergartens and other programs. This thesis will show how some Indianapolis clubwomen used the teacher’s school, the kindergartens, and the programs for mothers of IFK to create a successful Progressive program that endured for nearly seventy years.