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Finding Aid to the Baby Hygiene Committee Records, 1909-1964 MS 0051
MS 0051  
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  • Information for Researchers
  • Scope and Contents
  • History
  • Indexing Terms

  • Title: Baby Hygiene Committee records
    Date (inclusive): 1909-1964
    Date (bulk): 1909-1958
    Collection Number: MS 0051
    Creator: Association of American University Women. San Francisco branch. Baby Hygiene Committee.
    Physical Description: 11 boxes (5.5 Linear feet)
    Repository: California Historical Society
    678 Mission Street
    San Francisco, CA, 94105
    415-357-1848
    reference@calhist.org
    URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
    Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
    Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
    Abstract: Consists of administrative records, including constitution and bylaws, minutes (1909-1950), correspondence (1909-1955), annual and monthly reports (1910-1958), financial records (1923-1949), case histories, and membership lists. With these are newspaper clippings and printed materials pertaining to the organization’s activities and scope of interests, particularly child and infant health care and welfare, related health and education of mothers, and public health. Includes records of Community Chest of San Francisco, of which the Baby Hygiene Committee was a member from 1922 to 1943; Children’s Committee of Associated Charities (1919-1922); Certified Milk Fund (1910-1912); Mother’s Milk Bank; and Association of American University Women (1949-1964), San Francisco branch.

    Information for Researchers

    Access

    CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates: https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/ 

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has not been assigned to The North Baker Research Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The North Baker Research Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Baby Hygiene Committee Records, MS 51, California Historical Society.

    Separated Materials

    Photographs have been transferred to the Photography Collection, shelved as MSP 51.

    Related Collections

    Mothers’ Milk Bank, Inc. Records, 1945-1978, MS 3532

    Scope and Contents

    Consists of administrative records, including constitution and bylaws, minutes (1909-1950), correspondence (1909-1955), annual and monthly reports (1910-1958), financial records (1923-1949), case histories, and membership lists. With these are newspaper clippings and printed materials pertaining to the organization’s activities and scope of interests, particularly child and infant health care and welfare, related health and education of mothers, and public health. Includes records of Community Chest of San Francisco, of which the Baby Hygiene Committee was a member from 1922 to 1943; Children’s Committee of Associated Charities (1919-1922); Certified Milk Fund (1910-1912); Mother’s Milk Bank; and Association of American University Women (1949-1964), San Francisco branch.
    Included in the papers is the history of the committee, as well as communications with doctors and hospitals concerning the various projects. Of particular interest are the case histories and a 1927 survey of mothers and children who attended the health center. There are several articles about child raising, spanning the years 1909 to 1959, as well as photographs of the members and clients.

    History

    In May of 1909, a group of concerned women formed the Certified Milk Fund Committee of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae in order Francisco's poor." Aided by local dairies, the committee successfully reduced infant mortality through their city-wide drive for uncontaminated milk. In addition to supplying milk, the Milk Fund Committee offered instruction in the care and feeding of foster babies.
    They expanded their program in 1917 with the founding of the Childrens' Health Center. Functioning as "an educational center for all mothers," the center provided care for infants, foster children and the "older run about" stage. In the spirit of "initiating projects in the interest of child health," the Committee then developed programs for prenatal and postnatal care for mothers; classes and conferences; and examinations and vaccination clinics. Concerned about family planning, they established the Maternal Health Committee in-1929 to offer instructions in birth control.
    In 1918, the committee changed its-name to the Baby Hygiene Committee. From 1922 to 1943, the Baby Hygiene Committee operated as a member of the Community Chest. The committee defined their interest as the "studying, operating and getting projects ready for acceptance by a public or private agency for city-wide application." Among their programs later adopted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health were the Well Baby Centers; Supervision of Private Boarding Homes for Infants and Children; Cardiac Diagnostic Center for Children; and, Hospital-Based Postnatal Care for Mothers.
    With the closing of the Childrens' Health Center, the Baby Hygiene Committee embarked on a new project in 1945. They organized the Mother's Milk Bank, whose purFose was to provide milk for sick or premature babies. Included in this program was the promotion of natural child birth, breast feeding and rooming-in, in which the infant stayed with the mother in the hospital. From its inception in 1909, the Baby Hygiene Committee played a major part in the civic reform of San Francisco.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
    American Association of University Women. San Francisco Branch.
    Children's Certified Milk Fund (San Francisco, Calif.)
    Children's Committee of Associated Charities.
    Community Chest of San Francisco.
    Mothers' Milk Bank, Inc. (San Francisco, Calif.).
    Child health services--California--San Francisco.
    Child welfare--California--San Francisco.
    Children--Health and hygiene--California--San Francisco.
    Infants--Care--California--San Francisco.
    Maternal and infant welfare--California--San Francisco.
    Maternal health services--California--San Francisco.
    Membership lists.
    Milk hygiene--California--San Francisco.
    Minutes.
    Parenting--Study and teaching--California--San Francisco.
    Public health--California--San Francisco.
    Women in charitable work--California--San Francisco.