Insight on an Unsolved Mystery

Nicole Vendituoli '07, Education and History double major, and
Dr. Susan Ouellette, Associate Professor of History,
with Dr. Herbert Kessel,  Professor of Economics

During the summer of 2006, Nikki Vendituoli donned a pair of white gloves and nestled herself in a closed-off library room where she dug through Vermont state archives, perusing historical records of the Abenaki Indians. “I was touching things that are not allowed to have fingers touch," she said.

Vendituoli received a $2,500 stipend from the Social Science Research Center and spent the summer researching a mystery surrounding the sterilization of the Abenakis in the state during the 1920s. Throughout her research, she also received guidance from Dr. Susan Ouellette, associate professor and chair of the history department, and Dr. Herbert Kessel, professor of economics. Vermont Eugenics Survey

Vendituoli said the Abenakis argue that they were targeted as a group by the Vermont Eugenics Survey, a movement intended to “purify” Vermont, asserting that members of the tribe were sterilized specifically because of their Native American heritage. Another theory suggests the sterilizations occurred because they fit other categories of the eugenics movement that called for human purification. Vendituoli, a double major in history and education, aimed to uncover the truth.

She made several phone calls to the Abenaki tribal chief and tribal members, but no one would talk with her because the topic is very sensitive, she said. Other calls to those well-versed on the topic were also not returned.

Undeterred, Vendituoli traveled to several libraries and the Vermont Law School, analyzing numerous documents to search for the answer. “You take so many notes hoping that anything is going to be worth something,” Vendituoli said.

The worth that Vendituoli began to value became rooted in the volumes of original research she amassed relating to the eugenics movement itself, rather than to the Abenakis, as she discovered that the records accounting for the Abenaki sterilizations have disappeared. She realized she wouldn’t be able to answer the question of exactly why the Abenakis were sterilized, but she could still produce a 30-page paper on her work.

In the spring of 2007, Vendituoli will present her paper and her findings. She said she hopes her research will help people decide for themselves the real reason why the Abenakis were targeted.