Public Health Commission Board, 1996-2000

This collection documents the history of the Boston Public Health Commission, which was formed in 1996 as a result of the merger between the Boston Department of Health and Hospitals and Boston University Medical Center. The consolidation of these two institutions also created the Boston Medical Center, which subsumed the former Boston City Hospital. In addition, the histories of the Department of Health and Boston City Hospital from 1865-1965 (with gaps), the history of the Department of Health and Hospitals from 1965-1996, and the restructuring of Boston City Hospital and Boston Specialty and Rehabilitation Hospital (Mattapan Chronic Disease Hospitals) from the 1970s-1996 is documented. This collection also records the community activism of city residents, including those in the South End and Mattapan, regarding hospital closings, building facilities producing hazardous materials, and the smoking ban. Topics such as racial disparities in public health, community health centers, HIV/AIDS, women’s health services, program development, and health care reform are also documented. Records include board, trustee, and committee meeting minutes, correspondence, reports, budgets, financial statements, agreements, public hearing transcripts, newspaper clippings, press releases, photographs, and audio cassettes. Statistics, agendas, by-laws, memoranda, meeting notes, personal manuals, and brochures are also included. The collection is divided into four series: Series I. Minutes; Series II. Annual reports and publications; Series III. Records; and Series IV. Audio-visual materials.

Series I includes the minute books of the predecessor boards and departments Board of Health, Health Commissioner, Trustees of Health and Hospitals, Board of Health and Hospitals as well as the Public Health Commission. The Board of Trustees minutes and records can be found in the Boston City Hospital collection (7020.001). There are gaps in the date spans for each department/board. Series II includes annual reports of predecessor boards/departments including Trustees of Boston City Hospital, Board of Health and Department of Health and Hospitals as well as publications on health units and health statistics. There are gaps in the date spans for the annual reports in this collection. However, annual reports can also be found in the Boston City Documents published by the Boston City Council. Series III includes primarily administrative records including correspondence, subject files, committee records, budgets, etc. Board of Directors meeting packets which include minutes and supporting documents for the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Boston Public Health Commission for the years 1977-1985 and 1991-2007 can be found in this series. Series IV includes audio-visual material removed from Series III. One item of significance is a photograph of the hospital building in Mattapan.