Finding aid to the San Francisco Department of Public Health Records SFH 63

Finding aid prepared by Dee Dee Kramer
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA, 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
2014


Title: San Francisco Department of Public Health Records
Date (inclusive): 1865-1951
Date (bulk): 1906-1931
Collection Identifier: SFH 63
Creator: San Francisco (Calif.). Dept. of Public Health.
Physical Description: 39.0 linear feet (9 cartons, 3 manuscript boxes, 3 flat boxes, 37 vols., and 15 microfilm reels)
Contributing Institution: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: Chiefly Board of Health minutes and Emergency Hospital registers, with a small amount of Director's, patient, and financial records. Also included are microfilm copies of surviving pre-1906 death records; the original ledgers are held at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Physical Location: The collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.

Access

The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], San Francisco Department of Public Health Records (SFH 63), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

Provenance

"Temporary" minute book, Executive Orders, annual report, and clippings scrapbook received June 1995 from DPH; four hospital registers received from Bill Yoes of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, June 27, 1973, as part of accession no. 73-1 (other items in that accession were objects); otherwise, no record of provenance found.

Materials Transferred

An annual report for 1908-1909 has been transferred to the San Francisco History Center stacks.

Related Archival Materials

San Francisco History Center Ephemera Collection files include certificates of appointment to the Board of Health that were filed with the Assessor's Office,1907-1915 (bulk 1910), filed under "SF Health Dept. Commissioners certificates. Assessors office"; and correspondence on emergency hospitals that were separated from the George Christopher Papers, filed under "SF Health Dept. Emergency Hospitals."
DPH annual reports are cataloged separately from this collection and may be found via the Library's online catalog.

Background

The Department of Public Health (DPH) originated in 1865 as the Health Office, by an Order of the Board of Supervisors. Initially, The Office was charged with recording deaths and interments; administering vaccinations; handling interment permits; and reporting death statistics. The City and County Hospital-- created in 1855 as a conversion from the State Marine Hospital and established in 1857 in the former North Beach School-- was separately administered.
In 1872, a five-member Board of Health was established and its authority extended over both the Health Office and the public hospitals, which at that time consisted of the City and County Hospital and the Smallpox Isolation Hospital (est. at Laguna Honda in 1868); together with the Almshouse (est. at Laguna Honda in 1867) and Harbor Quarantine. The Board was also charged more generally with responsibility for public sanitation, including that of the Jail, the Prison, and the Industrial School. A Health Inspector and a Market Inspector indicate the beginnings of what would later become a full-fledged Division of Inspections. A Bureau of Statistics was "inaugurated" in fiscal year 1897-1898.
A new City Charter, adopted in 1898 and put into effect in 1900, more fully codified the structure of the Department of Public Health, as it did for other City departments. In addition to the institutions listed above, the Department administered the Emergency Hospital, Detention Hospital for the Insane, and the 26th St. Hospital (also known as the Leper Hospital). The new charter also consolidated funding for emergency hospitals under the same general DPH appropriation.
The system of emergency hospitals began as a single City Receiving Hospital circa 1876, consisting of three rooms attached to the City Prison in the old City Hall. By 1902, the Receiving Hospital had separated and expanded from the City Prison and become Central Emergency Hospital; Park and Harbor Emergency Hospitals had been added; and the Detention Hospital was budgeted and administered as part of the emergency hospitals. By 1903, when Potrero Hospital opened, there was a formally-established Emergency Hospital Service. Mission Emergency Hospital opened in 1908-1909, temporarily at 23rd and Potrero. With the City and County Hospital, it became part of the new San Francisco Hospital that opened in 1915.
Although most pre-1906 DPH records were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire, a few volumes of death registers and certificates survived, and a few of the emergency hospital registers include in their date spans some pre-earthquake entries.

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of all Department of Public Health records received by the City Archives, excluding the AIDS Office, which is a separate collection (SFH 4). Chiefly Board of Health minutes (1906-1931) and Emergency Hospital registers (mostly 1906-1917); together with some financial records, a small amount of files from the Office of the Director (1931-1951), and patient records from the time of the influenza epidemic. Also included are microfilm copies of surviving pre-1906 death records; the original ledgers are held at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Topics covered include: public sanitation and safety of food, meat, milk, buildings, plumbing, sewers, and streets; diseases and epidemics, particularly influenza, bubonic plague, smallpox, and leprosy; garbage collection; deaths, illnesses, and medical conditions of individuals; nuisances and abatements; and Department structure and administration.

Arrangement

Organized in six series: Series 1: Board of Health Minutes; Series 2: Office of the Director; Series 3: Emergency Hospital Registers; Series 4: Patient Records; Series 5: Financial Records; Series 6: Death Records.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Hospitals--California--San Francisco
Public health--California--San Francisco
San Francisco (Calif.)--Social conditions

 

Series 1 Board of Health Minutes 1906-1931

Physical Description: 1 flat box, 1 vol. in phase box, 8 cartons

Scope and Contents

Hearings, committee reports, and other documents are often included and interfiled. Topics include: building inspections, food and milk inspections and standards; sanitary conditions in jails, schools, and public buildings; business of the Emergency, City and County, and Isolation hospitals; building condemnations (listed by address in the index under "Condemnations"; certifications of appointment to the Board, and employee or officer status announcements and hearings.

Arrangement

In bound volumes arranged by date, with committee minutes filed separately.
 

Board 1906-1931

Physical Description: 1 flat box, 1 vol. in phase box, 7 cartons

General note

Includes an index volume covering circa 1908-1910.
Box 1

Index to Minutes, [undated]

Box 1

"Temporary" minute book, May 1906

Box 2

May 17, 1906-March 24, 1908

Box 3

March 27, 1908-June 30, 1910

Box 4

July 1910-Dec. 1912

Box 5

Jan. 1913 - Dec. 1915

Box 6

Jan. 1916 - Dec. 1919

Box 7

Jan. 1920 - Dec. 1924

General note

Missing July - Dec. 1922
Box 8

Jan. 1925 - Dec. 1929

Box 9

Jan. 1930-Dec. 1931

 

Committees 1908-1930

Physical Description: 1 carton
Box 10, Folder 1

Building Committee, Aug. [1908]-Apr. 1925

Box 10, Folders 2-3

Disability Committee, May 1912 - Jan. 1929

Box 10, Folder 4

Finance Committee, Aug. 1908 - Nov. 1918

Box 10, Folders 5-7

Hospital Committee, 1908-1930

Box 10, Folder 8

Joint Committee on School Medical Inspection, 1912-1924

 

Series 2 Office of the Director 1931-1951

Physical Description: 1 manuscript box

Scope and Contents

Miscellaneous files received by the City Archives from the period when Jacob C. Geiger was the Director of Public Health.

Arrangement

Files are arranged by type.
Box 10, Folder 9

Correspondence re: organization of services at the San Francisco Hospital, 1918, with cover letter dated Apr. 19, 1935 1935

Box 10, Folder 10-11

Executive orders Dec. 1931-Nov. 1951

Box 10, Folder 12

Advisory Board of Health minutes Apr. 15, 1932- Nov. 21, 1935

Box 10, Folder 13

Scrapbook [1951]

Scope and Contents

Clippings from 1906-1907 and 1928-1930, together with a nuisance abatement order for the corner of Jackson and Stockton Streets, dated 1850, tipped in. The letter is annotated "To JCG From HW SF Oct. 1951. with affection."
 

Series 3 Emergency Hospital Registers 1902-1934 1906-1917

Physical Description: 36 vols.

Scope and Contents

Registers of Central Emergency, four branch emergency hospitals, and Detention Hospital. Entries include: patient name and address; Intake, discharge, and transfer notes; disease or injury, treatment, and staff attending.

Arrangement

Arranged by hospital, then by date.
 

Central Emergency June 8, 1905-Feb. 14, 1916

Physical Description: 17 volumes

General note

Based on surviving original labels on some volumes, the collection's Central Emergency Hospital registers are a complete run, from their beginning in 1905 until mid-Feb. 1916.
 

June 8, 1905-Apr. 16, 1906

 

April 17, 1906; and June 5, 1906-July 11, 1907

 

July 11, 1907-May 17, 1908

 

May 17, 1908-March 14, 1909

 

March 14-Dec. 12, 1909

 

Dec. 12, 1909-July 21, 1910

 

July 21, 1910-Feb. 26, 1911

 

Feb. 26-Sept. 29, 1911

 

Sept. 29, 1911-May 21, 1912

 

May 22, 1912-Jan. 9, 1913

 

Jan. 10-July 28, 1913

 

July 29-Sept. 2, 1913

 

Sept. 3, 1913-March 12, 1914

 

March 13-Sept. 12, 1914

 

Sept. 12, 1914-March 29, 1915

 

March 29-Sept. 17, 1915

 

Sept. 17, 1915-Feb. 14, 1916

 

Potrero Emergency Hospital Nov. 17, 1903-Aug. 31, 1908

 

Nov. 17, 1903-May 26, 1906

 

May 26, 1906-Aug. 31, 1908

 

Park Emergency Hospital May 16, 1902-June 9, 1916

 

May 16, 1902-June 6, 1906

 

June 6, 1906-Dec. 29, 1910

 

Dec. 29, 1910-Sept. 2, 1913

 

Harbor Emergency Hospital Bulk, 1906-1916 Apr. 1, 1906-Oct. 9, 1934

 

Apr. 1-Dec. 31, 1906

 

July 1, 1907-March 21, 1908

 

Aug. 31, 1909-Nov. 29, 1910

 

Nov. 29, 1910-May, 1912

 

May 2, 1912-Jan. 19, 1913

 

Sept. 3, 1913-Oct. 12, 1914

 

Oct. 12, 1914-Oct. 8, 1915

 

Oct. 8, 1915-Sept. 17, 1916

 

Jan. 5-Oct. 9, 1934

 

Mission Emergency Hospital Apr. 1, 1909-Feb. 17, 1917

 

Apr. 1, 1909-Aug. 26, 1911

 

Aug. 28, 1911-Sept. 2, 1913

 

Sept. 3, 1913-Sept. 13, 1915

 

Detention Hospital July 2, 1906-Oct. 30, 1917

General note

Also cited as "Detention of the Insane."
 

July 2, 1906-Apr. 30, 1913

General note

Originally labeled v. 2.
 

Apr. 30, 1913-Oct. 30, 1917

Box 11

Series 4 Patient Records 1918-1919

Physical Description: 1 carton

Scope and Contents

Records of patients admitted to San Francisco Hospital from Central Emergency or branch emergency hospitals. Vols. 122-130 (case numbers 36500-36913). Dates cover the flu epidemic. Entries include intake, discharge, and personal information; diagnosis; health history; and lab, temperature, and bedside reports.

Arrangement

Arranged by case number.
 

Series 5 Financial Records Bulk, 1906-1920 1906-1952

Physical Description: 2 manuscript boxes, 2 flat boxes

Arrangement

Arranged by record type.
Box 12, Folder 1

Payroll book 1906-1907

Box 12, Folders 2-5

Record of Demands Apr. 1908 - Sept. 1912

Box 13

Journal Apr. 1, 1908 - June 30, 1910

Box 14

Cash Receipts 1906-1920

Box 15

Register of fees received July 1951-June 1952

Drawer 7

Series 6 Death records 1865-1905

Physical Description: 15 microfilm reels

Existence and Location of Originals note

Original ledgers are held at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Existence and Location of Copies note

Digital copies of the death certificates available on the Internet Archive.

Scope and Contents

Microfilm copies of original death registers and indexes from 1865-1905 and death certificates from 1904 that survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

Arrangement

Records are arranged by type, then date.
Reel 1-6

Registers and indexes 1865-1905

Reel 1

1865-1873

General note

Record only; no index.
Reel 2

1882-1889

General note

Record only; no index.
Reel 3

Aug. 1, 1894 - June 30, 1896

General note

Book "M." Record and index.
Reel 4

March 17, 1900 - Oct. 22, 1901

General note

Book "P." Record and index.
Reel 5

Oct. 23, 1901 - June 30, 1903

General note

Book "Q." Record and index.
Reel 6

July 1, 1903 - June 30, 1904

General note

Book "R." Record and index.
Reel 6

July 1, 1904 - June 30, 1905

General note

Book "R." Index. Dec. 1904 and Jan. 1905 are missing.
Reel 7-15

Certificates July-Dec. 1904

Reel 7

1-338

Reel 8

339-695

Reel 9

696-1018

Reel 10

1019-1325

Reel 11

1326-1677

Reel 12

1678-2030

Reel 13

2031-2600

Reel 14

2601-3200

Reel 15

3201-3500