In 1901, the 7th Legislative Assembly of Montana created the State Board of Health. The Board, which consisted of the Attorney General, the Governor, and five other members appointed by the Governor, 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."
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 1911, the Division of Water and Sewage was created, and the Board of Health was charged with overseeing it. Its first director was W. M. Cobleigh. In the early years, work centered around installation of sewage treating plants to prevent pollution of streams, protect watersheds, and provide clean drinking water; creation of regulations governing preparation and submission of designs for sewer systems and treatment plants; and analyzing public and private water supplies.
During the Great Depression, Board of Health cooperated with the United States Public Health Service and the Work Projects Administration (WPA) in sponsoring the Montana Community Sanitation Program. The program was designed to eliminate insanitary devices by the construction of sanitary privies on public and private property wherever sewer systems were impracticable for any reason. On April 15, 1944, the Division of Water and Sewage was renamed the Division of Sanitary Engineering because of the expansion of field work being done by the division and the development of sanitary engineering as a more clearly-defined field.
In 1950, the Division of Sanitary Engineering and the Division of Food and Drug were combined to create a new Division of Environmental Sanitation. C. W. Brinck was appointed director of the new division on May 1, 1951. The new division was divided into three sections: water, sewage, and general sanitation.
In 1967, the Montana Department of Health was created, and the State Board of Health was charged with overseeing the new Department. In 1971, the Department of Health was abolished, and its functions were assumed by the newly created Department of Health and Environmental Sciences. The State Board of Health was later renamed the Board of Health and Environmental Sciences. In 1994, the Board of Health and Environmental Sciences was abolished, and its duties were assumed by the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences. In 1995, following another state government reorganization, the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences combined with parts of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to form the Department of Public Health and Human Services. The Environmental Sciences Division of DHES became its own Department, the Department of Environmental Quality.
This collection consists of records created by the Montana State Board of Health and Environmental Sciences, and its predecessor the Montana State Board of Health, as well as those records created by the Division of Environmental Sanitation and its predecessors. The collection contains meeting minutes, reports from the Missoula City-County Health Department and from state health officers concerning typhoid fever Montana, licensing laws for hospitals, state public health plans, and industrial hygiene of the Zonolite Company of Libby. Also included are materials documenting on the history and activities of the Montana Health Planning Committee from 1946 to 1950. The Division of Environmental Sanitation records consist of correspondence, Food and Drug field investigations, Water and Sewage lab reports, and miscellaneous other materials documenting the activities of those offices.
This collection is organized into two series based on agency duties: Series 1) Board records, 1907-1994, and Series 2) Environmental Sanitation records, 1919-1970
Collection open for research.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society Library & Archives. The Library & Archives does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases, permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright holders. For more information, contact the Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives.
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Library & Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request.
In 2022, this record group were reprocessed to promote ease of access, and the following collections were integrated: RS 113 and RS 238, as well as State Board of Health correspondence previously filed in the Office of Public Instruction records, RS 102.
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
Photographs and printed material transferred to Photo Archives and Library respectively.
Microfilm of the Board of Health meeting minutes and the communicable disease reports in this collection is available in the Research Center Library as SMF 23 and SMF 41.