A devastating disease, poliomyelitis attacks the motor nerve cells in the spinal cord, often leading to permanent paralysis or, in the most severe cases, death. The pathogen causing polio was identified by Karl Landsteiner in 1908 as a filterable virus, but the carrier of the virus and mode of transmission remained topics for heated debate for many years. Although it was known to strike the wealthy as well as the poor, in the popular imagination, the disease was indelibly associated with filth, vermin, and the poor.

The poliomyelitis epidemic that struck in the summer of 1916 was one of the largest ever in the United States, with over 27,000 cases reported from 26 states -- 8,900 in New York City alone -- and a mortality rate approaching 25%. In response, the emerging class of health professionals in New York intervened with a broad epidemiological and public health campaign using both the legal recourse available to them by virtue of new public health legislation and the old nostrum of moral suasion to convince the vulnerable into cleanliness and salubrious habits.

The center of polio research at the time was New York's own Rockefeller Institute, and drawing upon this expertise, the Department of Health formed a committee to investigate the epidemiology of the disease and to find ways of limiting its spread. Initially, their focus fell on the poorer wards of the city, particularly on the Italian immigrant communities, and working within the dominant paradigm of disease as a product of filth, the Department of Health waged a public health propaganda campaign, sponsoring fly catching or rat killing contests in the belief that these would eliminate disease vectors. Stray pets -- also putative disease vectors -- were rounded up and slaughtered by the thousands.

At the height of the epidemic in July and August, near panic set in to the city, with hundreds attempting to flee for healthier locations and the Department of Health attempting equally hard to prevent the flight, stationing police along all of the major roads to prevent unauthorized persons from entering or departing. The paradoxical finding of the research, however, was that the incidence of polio infection was ultimately not directly correlated with conditions of filth, insufficient nutrition, overcrowding, uncleanliness, or the presence of vermin. Instead, it seemed to affect the poor less severely than the middle class, From a present day perspective, the majority of children in poor communities were exposed to the polio virus early in life when the effects of the disease were less virulent, while middle class children contracted it only later. The epidemic subsided as the weather cooled in the late fall and early winter.

The records collected by the Department of Health in New York City during the poliomyelitis epidemic of 1916 were gathered by nurses who canvassed every neighborhood in the city to determine which children were stricken, the conditions that may have contributed to the disease, and whether a quarantine was in force. Consisting of 28.5 linear feet of records, mostly arranged by patient name, the collection is divided into four series, as originally organized:

The data collected include brief case histories of each sick child, with notes on, among other things, the patient's nationality, residence, health and sanitation conditions, type of housing, breast or bottle feeding, and a survey of buildings and the surrounding area.

Physical description

29.5 linear feet

29.5 linear feet

Restrictions

Patient names may not be published.

Provenance

Gift of the Rockefeller Institute, 1964.

These records may have been kept by Flexner at the Rockefeller Institute in his capacity as vice-chair of the special committee formed in the summer of 1916 to investigate the epidemic. There is some possibility, however, that the records were transferred to the Rockefeller at some later date, where they were incorporated into the collections prior to their transfer to the APS in 1964.

Preferred citation

Cite as: New York (City). Department of Health Poliomyelitis Records, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Recatalogued by rsc, 2003.

Related material

The Simon Flexner Papers contains a quantity of additional information on the 1916 study of poliomyelitis filed under "Poliomyelitis" and under the names of individual physicians and scientists interested in polio research.

The Library also houses a collection of patient records on cerebrospinal meningitis amassed by the Rockefeller Institute, ca.1907-1913 (Ms. Coll. 34).

Bibliography

• New York (City). Board of health
• Rockefeller Institute

• Medical records

• Flexner, Simon, 1863-1946

• Epidemics
• Epidemiology
• Nurses -- New York (State)
• Poliomyelitis -- New York (State) -- New York
• Public health -- New York (State) -- New York