Santa Clara County. All rights reserved.
© 2007 Santa Clara County. All rights reserved.
Collection is open for research.
The Archives can claim physical ownership only for some collections. Users are responsible for securing permission of the copyright holder for publication or quotation.
Public Health Department records, Santa Clara County Archives.
This collection was transferred to the Archives by the Public Health Department in 2007.
This collection was in no particular order when accessioned. Most of the statistical reports were already housed in binders and needed only to be put in chronological order and boxed. The older reports from the 1940s were foldered for protection. However, the random administrative files had to be arranged loosely by function and chronology. Some folders needed replacing, but the originals were kept when possible. The plaques are unboxed.
Counties were first mandated to care for the county welfare by the state legislature in 1850. The Public Health Department, which has existed as a separate administrative unit from at least 1940, is responsible for assessing community health status, preventing diseas, injury, and premature death, promoting health practices, and collecting vital statistics. In 1993 the department was merged with the County hospital system to become part of the Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System (SCVHHS.
The bulk of this collection consists of statistical data collected by the Public Health Department, including birth reports, death reports, morbidity reports, and published survey results, arranged first by type of report and then chronologically. Also included are general administrative files that illuminate some of the processes through which these reports are generated, as well as three plaques.
The collection is arranged by type of report and then chronologically. There are separate series for publications and administrative files.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
This series contains statistical reports put out by the Public Health Department. Not all years are represented.
Annual Statistical Reports, also known as Vital Statistics Reports or Annual Reports, are documents produced annal that provide a general overview of health statistics for the county.
Birth reports provide in-depth statistics for all births in the county, including age of mother and ethnicity.
Death reports provide in-depth statistics on all deaths in the county.
These reports provide information on diseases reported in the county.
This series contains publications pub out by the Public Health Department, often in cooperation with other health organizations. It includes Health Status Reports and other reports based on public surveys. Not all years are represented.
This series contains administratives files such as reference and support materials, files relating to computer systems and automations, meeting ephemera, and other general office files.
This subseries consists of reference and support materials for the creation of public health statistics and surveys.
These files relate to the internal functions of the Public Health Department, such as computer systems information and performance measurement.
This subseries contains posters. Some are formal posters showing survey results, and others are large sheets of paper used at meetings, with handwritten details.
This subseries consists of the following plaques: Santa Clara County Health Department Board of Supervisors 1952; In Honor of W. Elwyn Turner, 1986; In gratitude to J. Kennedy Bartholet, 1993.