Title: Medical Committee for Human Rights. San Francisco Chapter: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1968-1975

Creator:

• Medical Committee for Human Rights (U.S.). San Francisco Chapter (Calif.)

Call Number: Mss 504

Quantity: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Subject files of the San Francisco Chapter of MCHR, an organization dedicated to providing quality health care in the community. The records reveal the Committee's interest in free clinics; community control of health institutions; drug abuse programs; occupational safety and health; and the health needs of women, prisoners, and minorities. MCHR has also been active in anti-Vietnam war work and in promotion of a national health care plan. The subject files consist of printed material and newspaper clippings, but few organizational records are present.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00504

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The Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) was created during the summer of 1964 when doctors, nurses, and health professionals went south to provide health care for civil rights workers. Chapters soon appeared throughout the country in response to community needs, particularly in Northern urban ghettos. The scope of MCHR concerns grew to include community control of health institutions, drug rescue programs, free clinics, women's and prisoners' health projects, and occupational safety and health. MCHR also supported the Black Panther Party and anti-Vietnam war movements, and conducted physical examinations for those seeking deferment from the draft for medical or psychiatric reasons. The focus of the organization during the 1970's has been the creation of a national health care plan, with free and non-discriminatory health care provided to all. To achieve its goals, MCHR has directed its energies against “repressive” elements of American health care: hospitals, pharmaceutical and insurance companies, government agencies, profit-making nursing homes, and particularly, the American Medical Association.

By 1971, the Committee had headquarters in Chicago, and consisted of 71 chapters, divided among six regions. Governed by a constitution, the national executive committee acts as the body's policy maker, with final decisions being made at national conventions. A steering committee, representing each region, acts as the executive body between meetings. A series of task forces directs the actual work of the organization, in such areas as: prisons, occupational health and safety, health law and patient rights, national health care plans, medical aid for Indochina, medical presence, racism, and geriatrics.

The activities of the San Francisco Chapter reflect the concerns and actions of the national organization. In addition to its support of the Black Panthers and the anti-war efforts, the Chapter worked to reform conditions at Bay Area prisons and hospitals, founded local free clinics and health care centers, and provided health care during social disorders, such as demonstrations. The Chapter helped secure the outlawing of the use of mace in Bay Area communities (1968) and publicly confronted the AMA at its June 1968 convention in San Francisco.

The collection is composed of the subject files kept by MCHR, dealing with medical, health, and other topics of interest to Committee staff and the clientele it served. These topics reflected political, as well as medical, orientations; for example, there is material on China, repression in Chile, strip mining and diseases of miners in Appalachia, and the situation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The arrangement of the papers illustrates the work of the Committee task forces, as there are folders on health care in prisons, medical aid to Indochina, and women's health. Much of the material consists of printed fliers and pamphlets, and newspaper clippings; very little organizational material or correspondence is present. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Medical Committee for Human Rights, via Linda Morse, San Francisco, 1978.

Box   1 Folder   1-2	Abortion, 1968, 1970-1974, undated
Box   1 Folder   3	Acupuncture, 1971-1972, 1975, undated
Box   1 Folder   4	Aged - Health Care, 1973-1974
Box   1 Folder   5	Alta Bates Hospital, Berkeley, California, 1971
Box   1 Folder   6	Alternative Health Care Budget and Proposals, Berkeley, California, 1970-1973
Box   1 Folder   7	American Medical Association, 1968, 1972, undated
Box   1 Folder   8	American Public Health Association, 1973
Box   1 Folder   9	Appalachia - Strip Mining, 1971
Box   1 Folder   10	Aspirin Advertising Project, 1972
	Birth Control
Box   1 Folder   11	Depo Provera, 1973-1974, undated
Box   1 Folder   12	DES, 1975
Box   1 Folder   13	IUD, 1973-1975, undated
Box   1 Folder   14	Male, 1972-1975
Box   1 Folder   15	“The Pill,” 1973-1974
Box   1 Folder   16	Miscellaneous, 1970, 1972-1974, undated
Box   1 Folder   17	Breast Cancer, Infections, 1972-1974, undated
Box   1 Folder   18	Children, 1971, 1974-1975, undated
Box   1 Folder   19	Chile, 1974
Box   1 Folder   20	China, 1971-1974, undated
Box   1 Folder   21	Clinics and Health Centers, 1971-1974, undated
Box   2 Folder   1	Clippings
Box   2 Folder   2	Community Resource Handbook for San Francisco, Other Guides for Bay Area Medical and Dental Services, 1970-1971, 1973, undated
Box   2 Folder   3	Convention Material, 1971
Box   2 Folder   4	Disabled, 1973
Box   2 Folder   5	The Draft
Box   2 Folder   6	Drugs, 1972-1973, 1975, undated
Box   2 Folder   7	Farmworkers, circa 1970, 1973, undated
Box   2 Folder   8	Federal Health Spending Cutbacks, 1970, 1973
Box   2 Folder   9	Guinea-Bissau, 1973
Box   2 Folder   10	Gynecology Exams and Self-Help, 1971-1974, undated
Box   2 Folder   11	Herrick Hospital, Berkeley, California, 1971-1972, undated
Box   2 Folder   12	Homosexual Health, 1973-1974, undated
Box   2 Folder   13	List of Bay Area Movement Groups, undated
Box   2 Folder   14	Lists of Doctors, Nurses, and Medics - Volunteers for Demonstrations, undated
Box   2 Folder   15	Medical Aid to Indochina, 1971-1973, undated
	MCHR
Box   2 Folder   16	Chapter Material, 1968-1970, 1972-1973
Box   2 Folder   17	Literature, 1971, undated
Box   2 Folder   18	National Executive Committee, 1972-1974, undated
Box   2 Folder   19	Mental Health, 1972-1973, undated
Box   2 Folder   20	Midwifery, 1972-1973, undated
Box   2 Folder   21	National Health Plan, 1970-1973, undated
Box   3 Folder   1	Nursing Students, 1971, 1974, undated
Box   3 Folder   2	Nutrition, 1970, 1972-1974, undated
Box   3 Folder   3	Paramedical Training, 1971, 1974, undated
Box   3 Folder   4	Patients' Rights and Advocacy, 1974, undated
Box   3 Folder   5	Pregnancy, 1970, 1972-1975, undated
	Prisons
Box   3 Folder   6	Committee Opposing Psychiatric Abuse of Prisoners, 1973, undated
Box   3 Folder   7	Coordinating Council of Prisoner Organizations, Minutes, 1972-1975
Box   3 Folder   8	General, 1970-1972, 1974, undated
Box   3 Folder   9	San Francisco - Material re: City and County Jails, 1973-1975
Box   3 Folder   10	San Francisco - “Report of the Mayor's Criminal Justice Council Committee to Review the Necessity and the Site Suitability of the Federal Detention Complex,” 1973
Box   3 Folder   11	U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons - Master Plan and Related Material, 1972-1974
Box   3 Folder   12	Sacramento (California) Medical Center, undated
Box   3 Folder   13	San Diego Convention Coalition, 1968-1969, 1971-1972
Box   3 Folder   14	San Francisco General Hospital, 1970-1973, undated
Box   3 Folder   15	Sickle Cell Anemia, 1971-1973, undated
Box   3 Folder   16	Theme House in Community Health at University of California-Berkeley and Health Politics Courses Offered by MCHR, 1972-1973
Box   4 Folder   1	Tierra Amarilla Clinic, New Mexico, circa 1969, 1972
Box   4 Folder   2	Unions, 1974-1975, undated
Box   4 Folder   3	Vietnam, 1971-1974, undated
	Women's Health
Box   4 Folder   4	General, 1971-1975, undated
Box   4 Folder   5	Sterilization, 1974-1975
Box   4 Folder   6	Women's Health Centers and Clinics, 1971, 1974, undated
Box   4 Folder   7	Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1973-1974
Box   4 Folder   8	Miscellany, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, undated