A window into early 20th‑century public health in Montana, showing how the state pursued prevention, protection, and policy.
This edition compiles the State Board of Health’s concerns, recommendations, and analyses, reflecting a era when public health decisions guided law, administration, and daily life.
The material frames the scope of state health work, from paying local health officers and enforcing the Pure Food Law to addressing tick-borne diseases, tuberculosis, and the conditions of housing and lodging. It also documents laboratory work analyzing dairy products and the ongoing effort to modernize public health infrastructure across Montana.
- Executive recommendations on staffing, funding, and legislative changes for state and local health officers.
- Ongoing battles with communicable diseases, including smallpox and tuberculosis, and housing standards to limit spread.
- Details on the Pure Food Law, dairy safety, and the establishment of a state food laboratory to analyze milk, cream, ice cream, butter, and lard.
- Discussions of disease vectors, animal dipping for tick control, and the public health reach of state institutions like sanitariums.
Ideal for readers of public health history, state governance, and the development of early health regulations in the American West.