The Eugenic College of Kantsaywhere

Bound typescript copy of a novel written by Francis Galton titled Kantsaywhere. This utopian novel was written by Galton towards the end of his life with the aim of bringing his theories of eugenics to a wider audience. It is heavily annotated in pencil throughout and although the title page is present the text now starts at page 15. Numerous parts of the text are missing. Handwritten additions are pasted in opposite pages 36, 37, 39, 56 and reverse of page 72.

The full title of the manuscript was originally "The Eugenic College of Kantsaywhere; Extracts from the Journal of the late Professor I. Donoghue, revised and edited, in accordance with his request, by Sir Francis Galton, F R S". The sub-title, "Extracts from the Journal..." has been redacted on the cover and struck through on the title page, presumably by Galton.

c1910

1 item

This item remains the copyright of UCL until 31 December 2039.

The papers are available at UCL Special Collections and Archives subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

A digitised copy is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

The novel was unpublished at the time of Galton's death and his niece, Millicent Galton Lethbridge, was instructed by Galton's executors to destroy it. Instead, she attempted to edit the manuscript by removing the more controversial passages with scissors. She later sent the manuscript and the fragments to Galton's biographer, Karl Pearson, for him to do with it as he saw fit. The duplicate copy of the manuscript was destroyed by Lethbridge.

The original material is held at UCL Special Collections. This catalogue is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.