Author to visit Geneva History Center

On Wednesday, July 27, author Michael A. Rembis will visit the Geneva History Center and discuss his newest book, “Defining Deviance: Sex, Science, and Delinquent Girls, 1890-1960.”

Drawing on exclusive access to documents from the Illinois State Training School for Girls in Geneva, Rembis provides a historical study of the treatment of troubled girls, often perceived as threats to the American race. He uses the Geneva Girls School as a case study to show how implementation of involuntary commitment laws in the United States reflected eugenic thinking about juvenile delinquency.

Rembis is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Buffalo. He received his bachelor and master’s degrees at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Arizona-Tucson. Copies of his book will be available that evening. Select photo images from the Geneva History Center archives appear within the book as well as on the front cover.

Before or after the presentation, attendees also are invited to visit the exhibition “Who Was Sadie Cooksey?,” a photographic traveling exhibition developed by Maine photographer Maggie Foskett. Intensive historical research on Foskett’s part allows her to share with her audience a likely semblance of what life was like at the Girls School from 1894 to 1930.

This presentation will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 27, in the Community Room at the Geneva History Center, 113 S. Third St., Geneva. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for GHC members and students and includes admission to the exhibition. For information, call (630) 232-4951.