Montana State Board of Health Records, 1907-1994

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Montana. State Board of Health
Title
Montana State Board of Health Records
Dates
1907-1994 (inclusive)
Quantity
2 linear feet
Collection Number
RS 495 (Formerly RS 238)
Summary
This collection is a subgroup (Division) of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services records. Please see the primary finding aid for more Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services records. This collection is comprised of records from DPHHS's predecessor agency, the Montana State Board of Health (later Board of Health and Environmental Science). It includes minutes, reports, licensing laws, as well as materials from the Food and Drug Division, including correspondence, court papers, press releases, field investigations, speeches, subject files and miscellany. (Photographs and printed material transferred to Photograph Archives and Library respectively.)
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Montana's Seventh Legislative Assembly created the State Board of Health of Montana in 1901. The Board was to "have the general care of the sanitary interests of the people" and was authorized to "make sanitary investigations and inquiries respecting the causes of disease, and especially epidemics, the causes of mortality and the influence of locality, employment, habits, and other circumstances and conditions, upon the health of the people." In 1967, with the creation of the State Department of Health, the State Board of Health was given the additional duty of overseeing the new department. The State Department of Health was abolished in 1971 and replaced with the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences. The same laws that created the new department continued the State Board of Health, but renamed it as the Board of Health and Environmental Sciences. This Board continued in existence until 1994.

The State Board of Health was responsible for the administration and enforcement of laws related to public health, including ensuring pure foods and drugs, inspecting tourist campgrounds, and licensing related businesses. The Food and Drug Division of the Board administered these sections of the law. The division director, sanitarian, and tourist campground inspector routinely conducted field inspections on restaurants, food- or drug-related businesses, hotels, tourist campgrounds, and water supplies to ensure sanitary conditions. The Food and Drug Division also licensed public eating places, meat markets, food manufacturers, soft drink manufacturers and distributors, and tourist campgrounds.

In October 1947 Governor Sam C. Ford appointed the Montana Health Planning Committee representing over forty professional, educational, farm, labor, civic, and welfare groups and official and voluntary agencies concerned with health and the general welfare. The Committee was to "seek to determine the health needs and resources of Montana, to make these known to the people of the State, to plan an adequate program for meeting needs, and to assist in carrying out such a program." The recommendation of the Committee was to organize local health planning councils to study local problems and plan for improvement in local areas. Activities of the Committee included sponsoring community organizations for Health workshops. The Committee worked closely with the Montana State Board of Health, Division of Public Health Education.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

This collection consists of minutes; reports submitted to the State Board of Health from the Missoula City-County Health Department (1920, 1922, 1962-1964), from state health officers concerning typhoid fever in Warland, Stevensville, Helena, Thurlow, and Libby (1925-1929), on industrial hygiene of the Zonolite Company of Libby (1956), and Montana Public Health plans (1955-1959); and materials removed from a scrapbook (1946-1950) on the history and activities of the Montana Health Planning Committee. The Food and Drug Division subgroup (1919-1970) consists of general and interoffice correspondence; court papers; press releases; reports, including field investigation reports, biannual and biennial reports to the State Board of Health, and others; speeches; subject files; and miscellany. (Photographs and printed materials were separated from the collection and transferred to the Photograph Archives and the Library respectively. Lists of items separated are included in the collection.)

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.

Preferred Citation

Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Library & Archives, Helena, Montana.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by subgroup and then by series.

Location of Collection

29:8-1

Processing Note

In 2024, the various collections of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services were integrated under one collection identifier, RS 495, in order to help facilitate access, reduce redundancy in the Montana Historical Society catalog, and to follow best archival practices.

Collections from Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services' various Divisions and Bureaus that were previously treated as separate entities are now integrated into this collection, RS 495. Rather than reprocessing over 60 linear feet of DPHHS materials, MTHS staff decided to keep the past arrangement of those collections/finding aids, and provide access to them via links through the central finding aid. This decision has allowed the MTHS archival staff to maintain intellectual control over the collection, while removing the need to reprocess it. It also keeps State Agency finding aids at manageable sizes. Please read the scope and content note carefully to determine if this subgroup/sub-subgroup pertains to your research needs.

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information is available upon request.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection

Montana State Board of Health Return to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Minutes
Box/Folder
1 / 1-6
Montana State Board of Health
1907-1962
2 / 1-2
Montana State Board of Health
1962-1970
2 / 3
Montana State Board of Health / Montana Board of Health and Environmental Sciences
1970-1973
2 / 4-5
Montana Board of Health and Environmental Sciences
1974-1987
3 / 1
Montana Board of Health and Environmental Sciences
1987-1994
Reports
Box/Folder
3 / 2
Missoula City - County Health Department
1920-1964
3 / 3
Montana Liscensing Laws and Standards for Hospitals and Related Institutions
1963
3 / 4-6
Montana Public Health Plan
1955-1959
3 / 7
Report on Industrial Hygiene Study of the Zonolite Company of Libby, Montana
1956
3 / 8
Typhoid Fever in Warland, Stevensville, Helena, Thurlow, and Libby
1925-1929
Subject files
Box/Folder
4 / 1
American Public Health Association, Western Branch
1953-1954
Miscellany
Box/Folder
4 / 2
Hoerner - Waldorf petition
undated
4 / 3-4
Montana Health Planning Committee scrapbook
1946-1950
4 / 5
Photographs transferred to Photograph Archives; Publications transferred to Library
undated

Food And Drug Division Return to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
General Correspondence
Box/Folder
5 / 1
Food and Drug Division Director (correspondents include W. F. Cashmore, Jr., Wheeler Coy, Jacob W. Forbes re standards for ground fresh meats, Donald E. Warner, Elton M. Andrew)
1930-1951
5 / 2
Miscellaneous
1941-1966
Interoffice Correspondence
Box/Folder
5 / 3
Montana State Board of Health
1939-1956
Court Papers
Box/Folder
5 / 4
J. L. Baucus vs Lake County (re creation of Public Health District No. II in Lake County)
1960
Minutes
Box/Folder
5 / 5
Committee on the Environment
1970
Press Releases
Box/Folder
5 / 6
Miscellaneous (re population statistics, duties of Food and Drug Division)
1944, 1950
Reports
Box/Folder
5 / 7
Biannual and annual reports to the Montana State Board of Health
1926-1939, 1942-1945
5 / 8
Biennial reports to the Montana State Board of Health
1932-1938
5 / 9-12
Field investigation reports
1920-1953
5 / 13
Head Start program (Hamilton, Mont.)
1966
5 / 14
Public health districts' quarterly activity reports
1958-1962
5 / 15
Record of licenses issued
1922-1924
5 / 16
Montana State Board of Health supplementary report
1958
5 / 17
Report on Old Plantation Cake Factory (Helena)
1945
Speeches
Box/Folder
5 / 18
"Food Inspection in Montana"; "Food and Drug Laws"
1929, 1943
Subject Files
Box/Folder
5 / 19
County boards of health
1951
Miscellany
Box/Folder
5 / 20
Analyses of staff needed for Montana local health services
1950
5 / 21
Montana Pure Food and Drug act
1966
5 / 22
Record of prosecutions
1919-1941

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Communicable diseases
  • Drugstores
  • Meat industry and trade
  • Public health
  • Restaurants

Geographical Names

  • Helena (Mont.)
  • Libby (Mont.)
  • Missoula (Mont.)
  • Missoula County (Mont.)
  • Stevensville (Mont.)
  • Thurlow (Mont.)
  • Warland (Mont.)