Title: Wisconsin. Bureau of Community Health and Prevention: Migrant Health Program Records
Inclusive Dates: 1953-1978

Creator:

• Wisconsin. Bureau of Community Health and Prevention

Call Number: Series 2210

Quantity: 3.2 c.f. (8 archives boxes)

Repository:

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

Archival Locations:

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

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Records, mainly 1965-1978, of various migrant health programs in central Wisconsin, including public health nursing, dental, and nutritional components of the Bureau of Community Health and Prevention; other health projects administered by non-profit organizations, churches, and local governments; largely funded by grants made available through the Migrant Health Act of 1962 (P.L. 87-692); records of committees appointed by Wisconsin governors; materials from conferences focusing on health care for migrant workers.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ser02210

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The use of migrant labor in Wisconsin agriculture began in the early 1900s. These workers, mostly of European extraction, were hired to cultivate and harvest sugar beets and various vegetable products. During World War II, when farm labor was in short supply, prisoners of war from Germany and Italy were used on many Wisconsin farms to meet demands. Also during the war, the federal government brought experienced farm workers from Jamaica, the Bahamas, British Honduras and Mexico to work on Wisconsin farms. The first comprehensive medical plans, which included on-the-job workman's compensation and off-the-job health care insurance were established during this period. These benefits, however, were only available to foreign migrants as part of the labor provision agreements signed with their home governments. All foreign workers entering the state were checked for contagious or infectious diseases and afflications which might hamper their work ability, and were innoculated against typhoid and smallpox.

The first Spanish-speaking agricultural laborers in Wisconsin were recruited by sugar beet company representatives from the southwestern United States in the late 1920s. The employment of laborers of Mexican origins increased dramatically in the decade following World War II. From 1951 to 1964, Wisconsin farmers participated in the Bracero program, an arrangement where by growers could obtain workers from Mexico if there were no other farmhands available. Some workers came to Wisconsin from Mexico but most were from the southwestern United States, especially southern Texas. During the 1950s and 1960s an estimated 85 to 90 percent of agricultural migrant workers in Wisconsin were of Mexican-Texan heritage. Over 20,000 migrant laborers and their famililies worked in Wisconsin in 1955, the peak year for use of seasonal workers.

More thorough regulation of migrant health conditions came in the post World-War II period. The first step toward improving health conditions was to require an upgrading of sanitary conditions in the migrant camps. In 1949, Wisconsin State Board of Health regulations in effect since 1933 were revised and strengthened. In 1951, the board was given the authority to inspect, register, and certify migrant camps for compliance with its minimum health standards.

Serious health and hygiene problems were prevelant among the migrant population. Workers experienced a higher incidence of infective and parasitic diseases, diseases of the respiratory and digestive system, malnutrition and high infant mortality, lower life expectancy, and poor or non-existent dental care. In addition, their mobility and work conditions were conducive to the spread of infections. Chapter 640, Laws of 1951, authorized the Public Health Nursing Section of the Bureau of Community Health and Prevention begin sending nurses to migrant camps. While local doctors sometimes volunteered their services health care for seasonal agricultural laborers remained largely inadequate.

The Migrant Health Act of 1962 (P.L. 87-692), and as amended in 1968 (Section 319 of Title IV of P.L. 94-63) authorized the U.S. Public Health Service to make grants to assist communities in extending local health services to migrants. After local plans were approved, grants were made to local governments and non-profit organizations to help pay for the cost of medical services for domestic migratory workers and their families.

The first migrant program in Wisconsin federally funded under the Migrant Health Act was in Endeavor in 1964. Similiar projects based in Beaver Dam and Wautoma soon followed, implemented by volunteer service organizations. In 1972 these three federally funded projects merged into a non-profit corporation called La Clinica de los Campesinos, Inc. Further extensions of the Migrant Health Act allowed La Clinica to become the central provider of health care to migrant workers in Wisconsin. La Clinica maintained a year-round medical clinic in Wild Rose and seasonal satellite clinic in Fox Lake. Other volunteer groups used federal funds to organize several smaller scale projects in central and southeastern Wisconsin during this period.

The Bureau of Community Health and Prevention (BCHP) of the State Board of Health (Department of Health and Social Services after 1967) assisted in the development of all the aforementioned projects, contributing personnel and resources from their public health nursing, dental, and nutrition sections. The BCHP assisted non-profit groups write grant applications, sponsored conferences, and served as a vehicle to share information on various migrant health projects operating in the state.

In Wisconsin, migrant labor has gradually been displaced by agricultural machinery and the use of chemical products, such as herbicides. By 1978 the number of seasonal laborers had been reduced to about 6,500, one-third of the peak. During the 1980s, however, Mexican-Americans still constituted the largest group of migrant laborers working in the state. Smaller numbers of seasonal workers, coupled with limited federal funding during the 1980s, had greatly reduced migrant labor health programs in the state by the early 1990s.

The series is arranged in four parts: Bureau of Community Health and Prevention project files, related migrant health project files, governors committee files, and conferences. The most complete documentation is on health projects operating in Waushara and Marquette Counties, the region with the largest number of seasonal laborers, from the mid 1960s to the late 1970s.

The BUREAU OF COMMUNITY HEALTH AND PREVENTION PROJECT FILES document the local migrant health programs in which the BCHP contributed field staff and resources from its dental, nutrition, and public health nursing sections. The records are arranged by section and by the location of the project. In addition, there are folders containing federal grant applications; a file of correspondence between the BCHP and the U.S. Department of Housing, Education and Welfare; reports from the Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations on conditions in migrant camps; and materials on the Migrant Health Referral project, 1965-1973, which attempted to provide better continuity in the health care of migrants while they were traveling.

The RELATED MIGRANT HEALTH PROJECT FILES are from various organizations and projects in which the BCHP was less active. The files are arranged alphabetically by organizational name. The records are fragmented, but offer insight into other grass-roots efforts to improve conditions for seasonal laborers.

The GOVERNORS COMMITTEE FILES include correspondence, budget reports, demographic data and BCHP testimony before the Governor's Committee on Migratory Labor, its Subcommittee on Migrant Health, and the Governor's Committee on Spanish-Speaking Communities.

The folders labeled CONFERENCES were collected by BCHP staff at state and federally sponsored workshops and conferences.

Processing Information

Processed by Andrew Hamilton; supervising archivist, Matt Blessing, May, 1991.

	Series: Bureau of Community Health and Prevention Project Files
Box   1 Folder   1-5	General, 1957-1979
	Section
	Dental
Box   1 Folder   6-7	1965-1972
Box   2 Folder   1-3	1973-1978
Box   2 Folder   4	Nutrition, 1972-1976
	Public Health Nursing
Box   2 Folder   5-9	1962-1974
Box   3 Folder   1-2	1975-1976
	Local projects
Box   3 Folder   3-6	Beaver Dam, 1966-1972
Box   3 Folder   7	Door County, 1972-1970
Box   4 Folder   1-8	Endeavor, 1964-1973
Box   4 Folder   9-10	Oconto County, 1968-1974
	Waushara County
Box   4 Folder   11	1955-1965
Box   5 Folder   1-5	1966-1972
	La Clinica de los Campesinos
	General
Box   5 Folder   6-7	1967-1972
Box   6 Folder   1-3	1973-1978
Box   6 Folder   4-5	Progress report for 1974-1975 and request for 1975-1976
Box   6 Folder   6	Board meetings, 1973-1976
Box   6 Folder   7-8	Grant applications, 1957-1970
Box   6 Folder   9	U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1953-1976
Box   7 Folder   1	Migrant Referral Project, 1965-1973
	Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations
Box   7 Folder   2-4	Progress reports from migrant labor camps, 1968-1971
	Series: Related Migrant Health Project Files	⇧
Box   7 Folder   5	Ad-hoc Planning Committee to Improve Services to Migrants, 1972-1974
Box   7 Folder   6	Emergency Food for Migrants project, 1969
Box   7 Folder   7	La Raza, Inc., 1971, 1975
Box   7 Folder   8	Mexican-American Self-Help project, 1970-1972
	United Migrant Opportunity Services, Inc.
Box   7 Folder   9	General, 1965-1974
Box   7 Folder   10	Grant proposal, 1966-1967
Box   7 Folder   11	University of Wisconsin, student participation in migrant labor research, 1961-1969
Box   8 Folder   1	Wisconsin Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association, 1970-1973
Box   8 Folder   2	Wisconsin Welfare Council, State Migrant Committee, 1953-1959
	Series: Governor's Committees	⇧
Box   8 Folder   3-6	Governor's Committee on Migratory Labor, 1964-1976
Box   8 Folder   7	Sub-Committee on Migrant Health, 1966-1978
Box   8 Folder   8	Governor's Committee on Spanish-Speaking Communities, 1971
	Series: Conferences	⇧
Box   8 Folder   9	Public Health Problems of Migrant Workers and their Families, Madison, 1957
Box   8 Folder   10	Inservice for Migrant School Personnel, Fond du Lac, 1969-1970
Box   8 Folder   11	Migrant Health Providers, Federal Region 5, 1973