"Better Babies, Better Mothers, Better City"

This paper offers the term "eugenic maternalism" to conceptualize how eugenic thought and practice was disseminated through Progressive Era materialist reform work. Focusing on the Better Babies Contests hosted by the New York City Babies Welfare Association from 1913 to 1916, I argue that the BWA Better Babies Contest provides an opportunity to broaden our understanding of the ways eugenic logic permeated maternalist discussions of child welfare. The contests incentivized mothers and children to participate in educational programming at local community centers, enlisting families in the project of assimilation. Within these spaces, eugenics operated as a reciprocal process of environmental reform, negotiated between reformers and immigrant women. Both participants and organizers acted within a eugenic framework in which their ability to control the environment would determine their future hereditary potential and capacity for citizenship

CONTEST · Eugenics · Political science · Sociology · Welfare · European history and politics · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Medical History and Research

• Concrete and milk

  Vyta Pivo•History and Technology•2026

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