J. M. Williamson M.D. Board of Health Photograph Album of Chinatown, San Francisco, 1903
Online content
Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- San Francisco (Calif.).. Dept. of Public Health
- Abstract:
- Extent:
- 1 photograph album
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
J. M. Williamson M.D. Board of Health Photograph Album of Chinatown, San Francisco. San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco History Center
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The photograph album of 178 albumen photographic prints documents the campaign of Dr. Rupert Blue, the assistant surgeon of the U. S. Marine Hospital Service in San Francisco, to cleanse Chinatown in 1903 of the third great pandemic of bubonic plague outbreak. Photographs document the facades of buildings on streets Dupont, Jackson, Sacramento, Stockton, Pacific, Clay and Sullivan’s Alley in Chinatown. The cleanse campaign began with the demolition work in March 1903 with a gang of deputized men with axes. Between March and October, 1903, 160 buildings in Chinatown were destroyed and are documented in the album. Of note are business signs in Chinese characters. Includes street views and alleyways of Chinatown. A few interior shots included to document the rats’ habitat which was slowly being linked to be the cause of the bubonic plague. Towards the back of the album are 15 photographs of the San Francisco Pesthouse, also known as Twenty-sixth Street Hospital.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The Department of Public Health (DPH) originated in 1865 as the Health Office, by an Order of the Board of Supervisors. 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 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 Twenty-sixth Street Hospital (also known as the Leper Hospital). Dr. John M. Williamson served as President of the Board of Health 1900 – December 1902.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift from Guenter B. Risse (2012).
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Plague -- California -- San Francisco
Public health -- California -- San Francisco.
Architecture -- California -- San Francisco
Architecture -- California -- San Francisco
Documentary photography -- California -- San Francisco -- 20th century
Photograph albums.
Albumen prints - Names:
- San Francisco (Calif.).. Dept. of Public Health
- Places:
- Chinatown (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Pictorial works
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is available for use during Photo Desk hours.
- Terms of access:
-
No copyright clearance needed as photographs in the J. M. Williamson M.D. Board of Health Photograph Album of Chinatown, San Francisco are in the Public Domain.
- Preferred citation:
-
J. M. Williamson M.D. Board of Health Photograph Album of Chinatown, San Francisco. San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco History Center
- Location of this collection:
-
San Francisco Public Library100 Larkin StreetSan Francisco, CA 94102, US
- Contact:
- (415) 557-4567