The Municipal Library holds a vast collection of material from the City’s Health Department. Currently named the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), the agency was known as the Department of Health (DOH) in earlier times. During the Administration of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia the Department issued regular bulletins titled, “Neighborhood Health.”
Measuring 9”x 12” inches and consisting of between eight and twelve pages, the bulletins were published bimonthly by the DOH Bureau of Health Education. Initially published in 1935, the series was issued through 1941. The early volumes focused on a range of issues and provided updates from the eight health districts in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. By 1937, each publication tended to extensively cover a specific matter, and also listed resources and events, including the Department’s frequent radio talks broadcast on WNYC radio.
Neighborhood Health, Posture Issue, November, 1940. illustration. Municipal Library.
Many topics are to be expected such as reducing the spread of Diabetes, Controlling Tuberculosis, or Preventing and Treating Measles. Others are more eccentric--Posture and Health (“Posture affects not merely our appearance and physical health, but our very sense of well-being. It has a marked influence on our emotions. The famous psychologist, William James, once wrote that correct posture kept up the spirts and tended to banish fear and depressing thoughts.”),
The lead article in the May, 1937 issue was “A Message to New York City’s Mothers” from Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. “… it is vital that the mothers should guard their health and that they should know how to guard the health of their children. This is largely a question of education. The Economic situation of the family, of course, is the basis on which is founded a standard of living.” The issue also provided facts around infant mortality. In 1900, 135 out of 1,000 babies died in their first year but by 1937, the number had been cut by two thirds to 45. Contrast that to 2018 when the incidence is 3.9 deaths per 1,000 babies in the City.
Controlling syphilis was the topic of several issues. The September 1939 issue was subtitled the “Venereal Disease Issue.” Neighborhood Health, Municipal Library.
Annually, the July publication would cover summer activities. “Summer is here. During the cold weather many, unwisely, shut themselves in their homes and dare not brave the wintry blasts. But now the sun is shining and the call of the outdoors is irresistible.”
Neighborhood Health, Summer Sports and Health Issue, July, 1937, illustration. Municipal Library.
The head of the football program at New York University penned the front-page article, “Summer Sports and Health” for the July 1937 edition. It contained this somewhat remarkable advice about preparing to play sports. “The players are in the growing period of their lives, and at this time they need a much greater amount of rest. Young boys and girls should have at least eleven hours of sleep each day. During the adolescent period about ten hours are sufficient…”
Neighborhood Health, Summer Sports and Health Issue, July, 1937, illustration. Municipal Library.
A squib on the inside pages reminded readers of “the menace to the health of all individuals” bathing in the East River and Harlem River due to the dumping of approximately “350,000,000 gallons of sewage daily.” Noting the Department of Sanitation was working to build sewage treatment plants the guidance encouraged the use of the twenty-one swimming pools that had recently been built and concluded, “Children must be urged to use them and to keep out of the polluted rivers.”
Someone didn’t read that piece because in the 1941 edition, a column on safe swimming stated, “A knowledge of swimming and water safety is an advantage in New York, for there is water on all sides and the shore line is more than 500 miles in length.”
What the Champions Say provided advice from three stars including Lou Gehrig and the nine-time national tennis champion, Molla Bjursted Mallory. She cited the large number of public tennis courts that the City had built and encouraged, “Don’t think that you are too old or too inexperienced to become one of the followers of the sport. You will be surprised what can be accomplished with a little effort.
Thomas Jefferson Park Pool, ca. 1937. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives
No less an eminence that Robert Moses authored the front-page story in 1939, titled Parks Mean Health and Safety. He touted the five prior years of rebuilding adequate recreational facilities. In a claim that would raise severe doubts today he wrote, “Great parkways have been and are still being built, not only as great arteries leading in and out of the city and connecting its boroughs, but as shoe-string parks with incidental paths and playgrounds for the protection, improvement and recreation of the neighborhoods through which they pass.” Tell that to the neighbors of the BQE or the LIE!
He also touted the planned conversion of the New York City Building at the 1939 Worlds Fair into the “largest and best equipped recreation building in any park system in the country.” Flushing Meadow Park was to have bridle paths, tennis and archery courts, lakes for small boats, tennis courts and softball fields. And, the parking lot that held 12,000 cars was to be a 65-acre recreation area.
An article in the July 1940, summer issue provided advice that will strike readers today as horribly misguided. “Sun baths should be started early in infancy and carried on throughout childhood. While getting a sun bath, the baby’s eyes should be protected from the sun’s rays. “ YIKES! The writer continued to warn parents not to “forget that over-exposure is harmful and at times very serious.”
In that same edition, the Hot Weather Hints advised “Don’t have iced drinks when you are overheated,” as well as urging readers to “boil all water taken from a spring or brook before you drink it”. Wouldn’t you think the advice would be NOT to drink water from a spring or brook?
Beechwood Avenue Playground, New Brighton, Staten Island, ca. 1941. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives
This year, the City launched the Summer Rising summer school program available to all of the City’s Kindergarten – Grade 12 students. The program offers both academic and enrichment programs and 200, 000 students are participating. Something similar was offered by the Board of Education (BOE) in 1940: cool, clean, safe schools equipped for play. Four hundred were open in July and August—41 had swimming pools and 100 had outdoor showers. The program offered athletic and art programs supplemented by field trips and were staffed by 1,000 Board of Education staff and augmented by hundreds of workers funded by the Works Progress Administration. In 1939, 200,000 school children used the facilities. “Children learn through play just as they do through formal schooling” opined the director of Recreational and Community Activities at the Board.
A favorite 1940 article begins, “Vacations are now regarded among the necessities of life. It is difficult to believe that as recently as 50 years ago they were looked upon as great luxuries and were only for the fortunate few. Today this attitude has been entirely changed. We now realize that the body needs relaxation and, unless it gets it at definite intervals, maximum efficiency cannot be attained.” The theme continued the next year: “summer time means vacation time.” But, the writer noted a great mistake made by city residents: crowding two weeks of vacation with too many activities. “For 50 weeks of the year they lead sedentary lives. Now they feel they must make up for lost time. The results are often disastrous. Don’t try to crowd every possible pleasure into the short holiday period. Don’t live so strenuously that you come back to work all tired out.” Some advice is timeless.
In 1941 the front page of the summer issue focused on the park playgrounds of New York City. Recognizing that outdoor play and other activities were important, New York had increased the number of playgrounds from 119 in 1933 to 417 in 1941. The writer cited a study of conditions in neighborhoods with new playgrounds conducted by the Department of Parks. A finding was, “In a quarter mile radius of the new playgrounds, street accidents decreased, and fewer cases appeared before the children’s courts.”
Summer Campers, ca 1939. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives
Departing for Summer Camp, ca 1939. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives
An article on summer camps for children offered a brief history of the Fresh Air Fund, which continues to provide City children with sleepaway camp and host family experiences. “In 1873 Mrs. A. P. Stokes started what she called “a sanitorium for small children.” This was taken over the next year by the Children’s Aid Society. In 1877 the Rev. Willard Parsons, who had moved from his East Side parish to a small church in Pennsylvania, induced his congregation to open their homes to New York City’s children. Thus was started a movement which grew under the direction of the New York Tribune until last year that paper’s Fresh Air Fund sent more than 14, 000 children from the city’s heat.”
There is more—alarm about thousands of forest fires, advice about the best clothing to provide circulation of air over the body while absorbing moisture, hiking advice “ a hiker is no better than his feet,” avoiding sunstroke and eating a balanced diet. Although the statistics in the articles are dated and the illustrations are not modern, many topics in the Neighborhood Health bulletins remain relevant today.