Series 2819: Commission on Hospital Care – Dr. Henry Boswell Files. 1946-1957.
Commission on Hospital Care (RG 38).
As of 07/13/2015
Series 2819: Commission on Hospital Care – Dr. Henry Boswell Files. 1946-1957.
Commission on Hospital Care (RG 38).
Minutes, correspondence, reports, financial statements, construction schedules and other documents pertaining to the Mississippi Commission on Hospital Care (MCHC), formerly the licensing agency for non-federal hospitals in the state and the one responsible for grants-in-aid to its health facilities.. Much of the material is in the form of “workbooks,” which are bound packets of materials used in each meeting: agendas, minutes, exhibits and other documents for consideration by the commissioners. Other materials in the series include biennial reports, legislative and congressional bills, statistics, and financial statements. Arrangement is generally by date of meeting; materials which could not be linked to a particular meeting are filed separately, as are the biennial reports and the state plans for construction of hospitals.
The files in this series belonged to Dr. Henry Boswell (1884-1957), who served as a member of the Commission from its inception in 1946 and eventually became its chairman. Dr. Boswell was a prominent physician who long served as the superintendent of Mississippi’s state-run tuberculosis sanatorium; therefore, his leadership, experience and advice in public health matters were much sought-after. These files document the activities of the Mississippi Commission on Hospital Care in a time of expansion of new hospitals in the state and the modernizing of old ones, when minimum standards for hospitals were set up and enforced.
See also:
Series 251: Progress Reports and Publicity.
| Meeting files: 1946 (Aug. 16) – 1949 (Nov. 14) | 32518 |
| Meeting files: 1950 (Feb. 6) – 1953 (Oct. 19) | 32519 |
| Meeting files: 1956 (Jan. 14) – 1957 (Oct. 14) | 32519 |
| Correspondence & papers of Dr. Henry Boswell: 1950-1953 | 32518 |
| Correspondence & papers of Dr. Henry Boswell: 1955-1956 | 32519 |
| H.B. 430 (act creating the Commission on Hospital Care): 1946 | 32520 |
| Biennial reports of MCHC: 1946-1947 & 1955-1957 | 32520 |
| State plan for construction of hospitals: 1948 | 32520 |
| State plan for construction of hospitals (revisions): 1952, 1953, 1956, 1957 | 32520 |
| Construction schedules: 1952-1953 & 1954-1955 | 32520 |
| Report of Sub-Committee to Hospital Advisory Council: undated | 32520 |
| Community Study of Hospital Needs: undated | 32520 |
| Hospital Schedules of Information: 1948 | 32520 |
| Outline for Statewide Hospital Survey of Facilities & Needs: 1946 | 32520 |
| The Management of Tuberculosis in General Hospitals: 1946 | 32520 |
| National Tuberculosis Association Job Evaluation Study: 1946 | 32520 |
| Report of General Study of National Tuberculosis Assn., NY Headquarters: 1946 | 32520 |
| Rules …of Licensing Hospitals under MS Hospital Licensing Law: 1950 | 32520 |
| Hospital Administrator Salary Survey, MS Hospital Association: 1957 | 32520 |
The Mississippi Commission on Hospital Care was created by an act of the Legislature when the Governor signed House Bill 430 in 1946. The commission was composed of six members appointed by the Governor, one from each of the three Supreme Court districts and three from the state at large. As an agency, its duties were to implement a state-wide survey of hospitals and other health facilities in Mississippi, establish a state-wide plan for the construction and equipage of such facilities, and to administer any federal funds provided by Congress for those purposes. With the passage of House Bill 687 in 1948, the commission was also authorized as the sole licensing agency for non-federal hospitals in Mississippi.
In 1979, the laws establishing the Mississippi Commission on Hospital Care were repealed and its functions were rolled into the newly-created Mississippi Health Care Commission (Chapter 451, Laws of 1979).