Officers & Trustees Director's Report Highlights of 2000 Administration

DNA Learning Center

During the year, the DNA Learning Center (DNALC) multimedia group opened a major new Internet site, Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement. The site provides students, teachers, scholars, and the interested public with an extraordinary window into a "hidden" chapter of history and a cautionary tale for our current rush to exploit the human genome. Through more than 1500 images and documents, most never publicly released before, the archive traces the rise and fall of this ill-guided experiment to protect the "American germ plasm from pollution by 'bad genes.'" With the support of many prominent geneticists and public citizens, eugenicists successfully lobbied for coercive social legislation to restrict European immigration, to prevent race mixing, and to sterilize "hereditary defectives." The Eugenics Archive makes no attempt to lead users to a "correct" interpretation of the materials; however, contextual narratives remind users that the vast majority of scientific "facts" presented by eugenicists were fundamentally flawed and have been discredited by modern research standards. It is especially appropriate that the Laboratory should sponsor this effort, because from 1910 to 1940, the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor was an epicenter of the American movement.

By far, the most exciting event at the DNALC was the completion of the BioMedia Addition. Construction began on April 18, 2000, and included the addition of a suite of administrative offices, an additional teaching lab, a computer lab, a lunchroom, and additional exhibition space. Through the generosity of The Dolan Family Foundation, established by CSHL Trustees Charles and Helen Dolan, the DNALC also gained a state-of-the-art facility for multimedia production, now called the "multitorium." The facility includes high-tech equipment and the latest technology, which will enhance the DNALC's mission to educate the students of Long Island. In June, 2001, the site will be dedicated and renamed The Dolan DNA Learning Center.