Cattle Plague in NYC: The Untold Campaign of America’s First Board of Health, 1868
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Date
2012
Authors
Erlandson, Erik M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
America’s first health board has received ample attention from scholars for its
unprecedented containment of cholera in 1866, but there is more to the history of New York’s
Metropolitan Board of Health (MBH) than this campaign. In 1868, the nascent health
organization faced its next big challenge, which has never been covered by secondary literature.
In August, infected Texas cattle arrived at New York slaughterhouses, threatening the
food supply of North America’s largest city. To fight the pestilence, the MBH adopted
unprecedented policies for 19th century public health institutions, which had long been inclined
toward local autonomy. During the cattle plague, however, MBH officers exerted their will
outside their legal jurisdiction, and cooperated with other states on public health regulation in
historically uncommon ways. This thesis explores how the MBH fought the epizootic, what
impact the disease had, and why historically rare activism occurred.
Description
Submitted to the Undergraduate Library Research Award scholarship competition: (2012). 68 p.
Keywords
New York (N.Y.). Board of Health -- History, Cattle -- Diseases -- History