Wm. Chas. Flynn (LOC)
Bain News Service,, publisher.
Wm. Chas. Flynn
[between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Notes:
Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the
negatives or caption cards.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.19313
Call Number: LC-B2- 3515-12
Comments and faves
R A Pyke (SweRon), davidfg, mirko-caserta, AndrewRose, and 27 other people added this photo to their favorites.
pennylrichardsca (5 weeks ago | reply)
William Charles Flynn was a perfect "eugenic baby"--winner in at least fourteen Better Baby contests sponsored by eugenically-oriented groups. He was in the news at this tender age (37 months in March 1915), because his mother found him a good eugenic match for a future wife: 17-month-old "perfect" baby Alene Calvert Houck, herself the winner of six better baby contests. Both children had scored a perfect 100 on measurements intended to set an ideal. "The mothers are convinced that fate has thrown their children together for some great purpose, but they have agreed that they will not resort to any form of coercion in shaping the future of their children."
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=1 9150327&...
trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/60066021
The Trove link includes the respective physical measurements of William and Alene.
Best I can figure, he did not, in fact, marry Miss Houck.
mystuart (5 weeks ago | reply)
He looks like a tough guy in the making and may have been a handful to any woman he ended up with!
--
Seen on my Flickr home page. (?)
prima seadiva (5 weeks ago | reply)
Fascinating but the basis of eugenics was very creepy and disturbing particularly after viewing the Child Labor set.
pennylrichardsca (5 weeks ago | reply)
Also, looking again at that loincloth, or whatever he's wearing. Doesn't look to be big enough or folded right to be a diaper. Weird little detail.
pennylrichardsca (5 weeks ago | reply)
Wonder if this is the same William C. Flynn born in 1912. Could be, the news stories about him were dated at Los Angeles. If so, his short life probably didn't fulfill the expectations of his "perfect" early days.
www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr& GRid=18187278
jelon71 (5 weeks ago | reply)
Perfect eugenic baby?! It's amazing ( and a bit horrible) that there were such contests. But I must admit that he was really beautiful little boy and the photo is great.
Arden (LOC P&P) (4 weeks ago | reply)
pennylrichardsca: Thanks for the identification of this boy and for the newspaper articles on him. We will add more details when we update the description.
EmBee's Web (4 weeks ago | reply)
Not a whole lot different than beauty contests today, but even more disturbing.