Series 2031: County Health Department Files. 1935-1971.
Health, Dept. of (RG 51)

Series 2031: County Health Department Files. 1935-1971.
Health, Dept. of (RG 51)

     Various records of county health departments, primarily consisting of reports and statistics (with some accompanying materials), but also including other items. These records can be classified into several major groups:

• Annual reports, by county, with narrative and statistical information (scattered reports only).



• Circular Memorandums notebook (bound from back to front) with circular letters addressed to full time county health officers and sent from various administrative officials regarding administrative policies and procedures (fiscal matters, reports, etc.) as well as guidelines and updates for medical practices (treatment of diseases, testing, etc.). Some accompanying materials are included.



• Clerical Training materials and files for clerks in county and community health departments, including lessons plans for trainees, a sample workbook (Lauderdale Co., 1944) with examples of the numerous registration and information forms required for various services, lists of trainees, and records of the clerical training program held in Lauderdale County.



• Community Environmental Sanitation Program Reports, Nine Steps to an Effective Community Environmental Sanitation Program (produced by county health departments and the State Board of Health) - reports consisting of a survey of a single town within a county and its management of nine health factors: housing, vacant lot oversight, drainage, livestock and poultry control, rubbish and refuse control, insect and rodent control, sewage systems, and water supply. There are reports for 15 towns, dated 1963-1968.



• Facility Files with files pertaining to the construction of county health department facilities (date of construction, costs, funds used) and dedication ceremonies for new buildings (invitations, announcements, publicity).



• Field Unit reports: activities summaries for 1948-1951; one special report of the Hinds Co. Health Dept. regarding increased efficiency; otherwise, quarterly reports in which county health departments were initially appraised for progress, needs, and personnel, and subsequently reevaluated quarterly.



• History Files - files and a set of index cards with information on the history of county health departments in the state (date organized, activities undertaken and/or planned, lists of officers). Many of these items have been stamped "Historical Significance."



• Manual of Procedure for Local Health Departments (revised editions of 1948 and 1949), a handbook compiled "to provide a concise digest of the experience of many people and of present-day practices ' (from the preface by Felix J. Underwood). Also included with these files is a copy of the appointment form to be completed by the County Health Officer.



• Sanitation Activities photograph scrapbook entitled A Pictorial Review of Permanent and Educational Health Work in Mississippi, 1937 - a scrapbook of photographs prepared by sanitation personnel with entries for 25 counties. There are 221 images, with emphasis on sanitation measures such as clean drinking fountains and swimming pools; construction of privies, sewage systems and sewage treatment facilities, drainage systems to prevent malaria; cleanliness standards for dairies; and general water purity.



• Statistical tabulations of health service activities by county, and by year, usually entitled "Tabulation of Activities for the Cooperative Health Departments." These charts list the services performed by county health departments in such areas as education (lectures, publications, news releases), schools (inspections, dental and nursing services), disease control and prevention (immunizations, sanitation and hygiene, timely checkups), maternity care (prenatal and postpartum visits, midwife training), laboratory tests (type and findings), and consumer protection (food and milk regulations.)



• Sunflower County news clippings scrapbook (1936-1942), photograph scrapbook and photographs (1932-1951) depicting the activities and efforts of health workers throughout the county as well as cataloging the needs of different communities. Note: A general description of these items can be found on page 4.

Box 9731: Scrapbook with photographs dated circa 1932-1939. Pages of the scrapbook are devoted to numerous topics, such as:

1. Personnel of county health offices
2. Screening of school on Dockery Plantation (screening tenant houses, sanitary privies built, malaria survey made, typhoid immunizations given)
3. Moorhead Colored School, other schools - sanitation programs
4. Infant in kiddy coop (built by Health Dept.) and parents working in cotton fields
5. Maternal care activities (particularly prenatal care or lack of such care, hygiene)
6. May Day activities (Child Health contest; department float)
7. Child care under supervision of health department
8. Typhoid immunization clinic
9. Malaria control
10. Preschool conference on Sunflower Plantation
11. Inspections of drinking fountains
12. Pellagra treatment
13. Ruleville Office
14. Cotton pickers
15. Rockefeller Foundation Training School (dairy barn, construction of sanitary toilets)
16. Typhoid Immunization Conference

Box 15267: Approximately 116 loose photographs, dated circa 1934-1951. These photographs include some of the same images contained in the scrapbook described above, with many other photographs and some additional topics. These photos have not been clearly identified or dated in most instances.