Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Provenance
Materials Transferred
Related Archival Materials
Background
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
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