Research

Scope and Content Note

The series consists of pre-printed cards (approximately 3.5" x 6") that record, in manuscript, personal and medical data on victims of smallpox. The card files represent approximately 3,600 cases of smallpox reported to the Health Department from throughout the state.

All physicians were required to report each outbreak of communicable diseases legally designated as public health concerns to the Division of Communicable Diseases, which used the information for epidemiological investigations, statistical analysis and reporting, and planning.

Personal data recorded in the smallpox case report cards consists of: the patient's name; age; sex; color/race/;marital status; country of mother's birth; street address; city; and county.

Medical data includes: date of first symptoms; date reported; date of last successful vaccination; site where infection occurred and whether it was a dairy or dairy farm; the reporting physician's signature; and local district health officer's signature.

Each card is stamped and sometimes annotated in pencil, as to the date received by the Division of Communicable Diseases. Attachments to some cards include notes about changes in diagnosis, report duplication, vaccination history, and (in a very few cases only) the victim's response to vaccination and vaccination of other family members.

A set of cards at the end of the series records declarations of smallpox contagion by the commissioner of health and rescindments of smallpox certifications from 1925-1939. The "Declarations By Commissioner" list date; place; county; date declared; and date lifted. The "Smallpox Certifications" list county; date; place; date certified; date certification lifted; and number of cases (often blank).