"Vermont for the Vermonters" talk at the Waterbury Public Library

Mercedes de Guardiola will speak at the Waterbury Public Library about her book "Vermont for the Vermonters": The History of Eugenics in the Green Mountain State on Thursday, March 7th at 6:00PM. The talk is presented by the Vermont Historical Society, Waterbury Public Library, and Bridgeside Books. 

de Guardiola will discuss the nature of Vermont’s eugenics movement and how it gained support throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, leading to a series of state-sanctioned programs that utilized family separation, institutionalization, and sterilization. Copies of the book will be available for sale at the event. 

Her work on the history of eugenics is currently focused on Vermont, including public policies of child health and welfare, mass institutionalization and later deinstitutionalization, sterilization, and family separation. A leading expert on Vermont's eugenics movement, de Guardiola testified before the state legislature during hearings in the early 2020s on the 2021 apology and ongoing responses. 

For details about this event, visit the Waterbury Public Library's events calendar.