Contents

Collection Overview

Historical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS (1886-1973),

SERIES II. ORGANIZATION FILES (1885-1972),

SERIES III. CONFERENCES (1921-1936),

SERIES IV. SUBJECT FILES (1873-1962),

SERIES V. BOOKS (1901-1951)

SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS (1886-1973),

SERIES II. ORGANIZATION FILES (1885-1972),

SERIES III. CONFERENCES (1921-1936),

SERIES IV. SUBJECT FILES (1873-1962),

SERIES V. BOOKS (1901-1951)

OVERSIZE MATERIALS

Margaret Sanger Research Bureau Records, 1873-1973 (bulk 1917-1969)

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Susan Boone.

2005

Historical Note

Margaret Sanger founded the Margaret Sanger Research Bureau (MSRB) in 1923 as the Clinical Research Bureau, operating under the direction of the American Birth Control League (ABCL). In 1928, Margaret Sanger resigned as president of the ABCL and assumed full control of the clinic, renaming it the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau (BCCRB). The BCCRB and the ABCL merged in 1939 and became the Birth Control Federation of America (it became Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) in 1942 with the clinic retaining much of its, independence. In 1940, it was renamed the MSRB in honor of its founder. Under the guidelines of the 1939 merger, the MSRB was only loosely affiliated with PPFA until the mid-1950s, when budget deficits forced the Bureau to more closely align its services with the Federation in exchange for financial assistance. The Bureau assisted with fund-raising and became the clinical research arm of the PPFA. In return PPFA funded the Bureau and provided grants for doctors and researchers on the Bureau staff. In 1968 because of continuing financial difficulties the Bureau became affiliated with Columbia University. However, budgetary difficulties in 1974 forced the Bureau to shut down and combine its staff with Planned Parenthood of New York City in a new facility called the Margaret Sanger Center in New York. Between 1940 and 1962 (the last year of Sanger's involvement with the MSRB) the Bureau provided comprehensive contraceptive services for women and couples, and became the largest combined birth control and fertility center in the world.

After Medical Director Hannah Stone's death in 1941, Abraham Stone, her husband and successor, altered and expanded the MSRB to accommodate his growing interest in infertility. In 1945, Stone inaugurated a Fertility Service that offered counseling, testing, and treatment for infertile couples. He expanded the Bureau's Marriage Consultation Service and steered the Research Department into a greater emphasis on infertility studies. While the Bureau continued to offer contraceptive services, the number of patients dropped as contraception became more widely available through private physicians. However, the Bureau grew as a teaching center, offering seminars, research projects and clinical work for visiting doctors, nurses, and medical students. The Bureau also offered a fellowship program for gynecologists and obstetricians for intensive training in birth control techniques. Margaret Sanger withdrew from day-to-day MSRB affairs in the 1940s, but continued to make many of the budgetary and personnel decisions. Though she disagreed with how the Clinic had evolved under Abraham Stone's leadership, she continued to raise funds for the MSRB. In 1950 Sanger turned over even more control to Stone, naming him director and selling him the West 16th Street building. For more information on the Margaret Sanger Research Bureau see the Margaret Sanger Papers Project.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Margaret Sanger Research Bureau Records contain correspondence, clippings, pamphlets (some in foreign languages), miscellaneous printed material, books, and 194 glass slides and two films used by Norman Hines for lectures on birth control in the 1930s (located in Oversized Materials at the end of the Records).

It appears that these Records contain items from the Bureau's library as well as remaining historical material from its consolidation in 1974. The collection is less the administrative records of the Bureau, although there are a few, and more subject files collected by the Bureau over the years. The Margaret Sanger Papers include more records from the Bureau. Nevertheless this collection represents a rich source of information on the early birth control movement in the U.S. and abroad. Of particular interest are general 19th and 20th century pamphlets on birth control, religious views, sex education, contraceptive methods (dating from 1877), and early commercial catalogs; writings by Margaret Sanger and other pioneers of the early birth control movement such as suffragist and socialist Annie Besant; birth control and sex education advocates Mary Ware Dennett and Marie Stopes; Malthusians George Drysdale, Charles Robert Drysdale, and Charles Vickery Drysdale; and eugenicist, socialist, and feminist Moses Harmon. Organization files include reports, history, bibliographies, laws, legislation, and general literature published by the American Birth Control League, Birth Control Federation of America, National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control, National Committee on Maternal Health, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and other birth control leagues, clinics and conferences in the United States and England. The collection includes a library of 59 books on birth control, sexuality, marriage, family, and related topics.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

• I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS
• II. ORGANIZATION FILES
• III. CONFERENCES
• IV. SUBJECT FILES
• V. BOOKS
• OVERSIZED MATERIALS

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SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS , (1886-1973) .75 linear ft.

This series contains printed material, correspondence, writings, and notes by and about nineteen people, most of whom were birth control pioneers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are arranged in alphabetical order. Of particular interest are pamphlets by suffragist and socialist Annie Besant; birth control and sex education advocates Mary Ware Dennett and Marie Stopes; Malthusians George Drysdale, Charles Robert Drysdale, and Charles Vickery Drysdale; and eugenicist, socialist, and feminist Moses Harmon.

There is a significant amount of biographical material on Margaret Sanger including obituaries and clippings. An article she wrote for Reader's Digest in 1951, along with letters women wrote in response are included. Many of the women ask specific questions about birth control. Also of interest are various editions (both in English and other languages) of Sanger's Family Limitation beginning in 1914. There are also copies of Sanger's Women and the New Race, Magnetation Methods of Birth Control; Birth Control Through the Ages; Women, Morality and Birth Control; and Voluntary Motherhood. (There are also writings by Sanger in SERIES VI. BOOKS) William Sanger's The Trial of William Sanger, September 10, 1915, regarding his arrest and trial for handing out birth control literature is also included.

There is a large amount of manuscript material by Abraham Stone including a copy of Birth Control (n.d.), proof and typed copies of A Marriage Manual (1968) which he wrote with his wife Hannah, and his Psychosomatic Factors in Marriage (1946).

SERIES II. ORGANIZATION FILES , (1885-1972) 1.25 linear ft.

This series is divided into two subseries: Great Britain and United States. Each is arranged alphabetically. The first subseries contains information on twenty birth control organizations, clinics, and related groups in Great Britain including Scotland and India. Of particular interest are pamphlets and printed material of the Malthusian League (1911-51).

The second subseries contains information on thirty-four US organizations and clinics. The primary organizations represented are the American Birth Control League (ABCL) (1922-39), the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau (BCCRB) (1939-40), and the National Committee on the Federal Legislation for Birth Control (NCFLBC) (1929-36). The ABCL records include annual meeting materials, clinic data, history, publications related to laws and legislation, and birth control literature. The BCCRB material contains annual reports and meeting material, newsletters, clinic information, and miscellaneous pamphlets and printed material. The NCFLBC also contains newsletters, news releases, pamphlets, and printed material. There is one folder on the Margaret Sanger Research Bureau (1927-29) which contains a history of birth control and of the MSRB as well as a study on contraception and menopause. Worthy of note in this subseries is a copy of a flyer in three languages from Sanger's Brooklyn clinic (46 Amboy St.) and flyers from her Harlem clinic.

SERIES III. CONFERENCES , (1921-1936) .5 linear ft.

This series contain reports, notes, publications, and miscellaneous printed material on nine conferences held in the United State and abroad. They are arranged alphabetically. Of particular interest is The Practice of Contraception edited by Margaret Sanger and Hannah Stone (from the 7th International Birth Control Conference), reports of the fifth (1922) and sixth (1925) International Neo-Malthusian and Birth Control Conference and Birth Control: What It Is, How It Works And What It Will Do from the First American Birth Control Conference, 1921.

SERIES IV. SUBJECT FILES , (1873-1962) 6.25 linear ft.

This series is divided in two subseries: Birth Control and Sex Education. Birth Control is divided into eight sections: anti-birth control; clinics; laws, legislation, and trials; marriage and birth control; medical views; contraceptive methods; religious views; and miscellaneous. Law, legislation, and trials contains information on the Comstock law which forbade the sending of birth control information through the mail (1873-1915); New York vs. Margaret Sanger and Ethel Byrne, the trial for opening Sanger's birth control clinic in Brooklyn (1916-29); and US vs. One Package which was a case related to the interception by customs of a package of contraceptives supplies sent to Sanger from Japan (1936). The methods sections contains pamphlets as early as 1877 and of particular interest are early commercial catalogs from drug companies and manufacturers of birth control devices and rubber goods. Miscellaneous pamphlets contains English and foreign language publications.

SERIES V. BOOKS (1901-1951)

This series contains 59 titles including Margaret Sanger's Pivot of Civilization, Women and the New Race, Happiness in Marriage, and My Fight for Birth Control; seven volumes of Havelock Ellis' Studies in the Psychology of Sex; five titles by Marie Stopes as well as a biography of Stopes by Maude Alymner; and the Birth Control Congressional Hearings (1931-34).

Contents List

SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS , (1886-1973)

SERIES II. ORGANIZATION FILES , (1885-1972)

SERIES III. CONFERENCES , (1921-1936)

SERIES IV. SUBJECT FILES , (1873-1962)

SERIES V. BOOKS (1901-1951)

OVERSIZE MATERIALS