Dates: 1937-1994.

History:

Mississippi Public Health Association (MPHA)

The Mississippi Public Health Association (MPHA) was organized in Jackson on May 27 and 28, 1937. The stated objectives for the new association were to protect and promote public and personal health across the state. Behind these objectives was a strong emphasis on continuing education for public health workers. While public health workers had held annual training conferences since 1913, there had never been a professional organization to assist the state in additional training conferences and ongoing seminars. Dr. Felix J. Underwood, executive officer of the Mississippi State Board of Health, thought such an association would greatly benefit state public health workers, which in turn would improve the quality of existing healthcare programs for all citizens. He appointed a steering committee to draft a constitution and bylaws and to nominate a board of directors. Underwood also proposed a two-day schedule for the annual meeting, with the first day providing a general program for all members and the second day devoted to section meetings, followed by an evening banquet and dance. The different personnel sections making up the state board of health at that time were administration, clerical assistants, dental hygienists, physicians, public health nurses, sanitation workers, and vital statistics staff. Veterinarians who assisted with public health issues were also included. Each section was to elect its own officers annually, and those officers were to work with the executive committee, which was elected by the entire membership.

At the first annual meeting in 1937, state health officers and other public health personnel adopted a constitution and bylaws and set a permanent annual meeting time for a Thursday and Friday in December. The meeting recognized the sixtieth anniversary of the Mississippi State Board of Health and the vigorous efforts of the previous decade to combat infectious diseases, such as diphtheria, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever, and to teach preventive healthcare measures for pellagra and post-childbirth convulsions and septicemia. The main symposium of the conference was on infant hygiene, a topic prompted by the high infant-mortality rate. On Friday, MPHA members attended seminars representing the various personnel sections within the state board of health.

Throughout the twentieth century, the stated purposes of the MPHA essentially remained the same, but membership was extended to undergraduate and graduate students who were interested in public health. Additional membership sections reflected the growth of the Mississippi State Board of Health (renamed the Mississippi State Department of Health in the 1980s). These included community health, environmental health, epidemiology, health administration, medical care, nutrition, and social work. Delegates from the state association were sent to meetings of the American Public Health Association. Members of the association took on the additional tasks of legislative advocacy; professional outreach with other healthcare providers; recognition of outstanding service to the community or individuals; environmental health and safety; publications; and communication with members, other health-related organizations, the mass media, and the general public. The Mississippi Public Health Association continues to implement this agenda and to meet changing public health needs.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection of documents from the Mississippi Public Health Association (MPHA) contains originals, photocopies, and typewritten copies of the following materials: constitutions and bylaws, minutes, correspondence, executive committee memoranda, standing and special committee notes, membership information and rosters, financial records, printed material, annual meeting programs and materials, and photographs. The collection also contains annual emergency response drills for Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Port Gibson, Mississippi, which state the procedures and list the personnel responsible for staging a simulation of a nuclear accident and subsequent responses by public health personnel. In addition, there is information on the Mississippi State Department of Health, the American Public Health Association, and the Southern Health Association.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Constitutions and Bylaws. 1937-1938; 1982-1983; 1994. 2 folders.
This series includes Mississippi Public Health Association constitutions and bylaws for various years, along with notes from a 1991 constitutional review committee.

Box 1

Series 2: Minutes and Memoranda (Executive Committee). 1937-1939; 1977-1991. 6 folders.
This series contains minutes, membership rosters, and stenographic notes for meetings of the executive committee of the Mississippi Public Health Association. It also includes official correspondence among committee members regarding the preparations for annual meetings.

Box 1

Series 3: Minutes (General Business Sessions). 1937-1939; 1979-1983; 1985; 1987. 1 folder.
This series contains minutes of the general business sessions of various Mississippi Public Health Association annual meetings.

Box 1

Series 4: Memoranda. 1984-1990. 1 folder.
This series contains correspondence between the Mississippi Public Health Association and the Mississippi State Department of Health regarding annual meetings and related matters.

Box 1

Series 5: Correspondence (Executive Committee). 1937-1938; 1978; 1980; 1982-1987; 1989-1991. 2 folders.
This series contains incoming and outgoing correspondence of Mississippi Public Health Association executive committee members and others regarding the annual meeting and related matters.

Box 1

Series 6: Minutes (Section Meetings). 1939; 1990-1991. 1 folder.
This series contains minutes from various section meetings of the Mississippi Public Health Association annual meetings. Sections included are administration, clerical, community health, epidemiology, nutrition, nursing, and physicians.

Box 1

Series 7: Minutes (Standing Committees). 1938-1939; 1979-1991; n.d. 6 folders.
This series contains minutes from various Mississippi Public Health Association committees, including those responsible for awards, fund-raising, future objectives, legislative initiatives, nominations, and voting.

Box 1

Series 8: Membership Records. 1984-1986; 1988-1990; n.d. 4 folders.
This series contains information on new Mississippi Public Health Association members, including application forms, form letters, and membership rosters.

Box 1

Series 9: Financial Records. 1937-1939; 1978-1991; n.d. 3 folders.
This series includes Mississippi Public Health Association financial reports, invoices, and vouchers.

Box 1

Series 10: Annual Meeting Materials. 1979-1991. 1 cubic ft.
This series contains materials used for planning Mississippi Public Health Association annual meetings, including files on accommodations, agendas, audio-visual presentations, biographical sketches of participants, entertainment, programs, registration, speakers, and travel.

Box 2

Series 11: Photographs. 1942; 1949; 1955; 1959; 1979-1980; 1982-1986; 1988-1990; n.d. 0.50 cubic ft.
This series contains photographs, negatives, and contact sheets of various Mississippi Public Health Association annual meetings, the Mississippi State Board of Health, and miscellaneous events.

Box 3

Series 12: Historical Records. 1937-1941; 1943-1949; 1951-1961; 1964-1977. 0.12 cubic ft.
This series contains materials from a notebook that contained the 1937 press release announcing the formation of the Mississippi Public Health Association, along with correspondence and a graph depicting the total membership of the organization for 1937 and 1938. This series also includes annual meeting programs from the first four decades of the MPHA.

Box 5

Series 13: Printed Material and Ephemera. 1982-1991; n.d. 12 folders.
This series includes a variety of printed materials, including advertisements, brochures for conferences and health policies, newsletters, Mississippi Public Health Association stationery, and information from the Mississippi State Department of Health. Also included are correspondence and printers’ bids concerning the initial publication of Mississippi’s Health.

Boxes 1 and 4

Series 14: Grand Gulf Nuclear Station Files. 1983-1987; n.d. 2 folders.
This series contains correspondence and procedures for staging the annual emergency response drill for the Mississippi State Department of Health during a simulated nuclear emergency at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, located on the Mississippi River near Port Gibson, Mississippi. Also included are evaluations of the simulations.

Box 2

Series 15: American Public Health Association Files. 1981-1991; n.d. 6 folders.
This series includes correspondence and memoranda of national leaders of the American Public Health Association and Mississippi members of that association. There are also membership rosters and printed materials.

Box 1

Series 16: Southern Health Association File. 1983. 1 folder.
This series contains correspondence from the Southern Health Association, Jasper, Georgia, to the Mississippi Public Health Association, regarding dues and membership.

Box 1