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Disease Control and Prevention

Rural sanitary surveys conducted by the Public Health Service under the leadership of such officers as Leslie L. Lumsden (1875-1946) and Charles W. Stiles (1867-1941) tried to ascertain the health conditions in rural areas of the United States through house-to-house canvasses. Working in close cooperation with local officials, the public health survey teams also provided advice to these households concerning the safe disposal of human wastes by building sanitary privies, the protection of water supplies by safeguarding wells to prevent surface drainage, and the screening of homes to prevent the entrance of disease-bearing insects, particularly flies and mosquitos. The construction of sanitary privies for each household, such as these shown here in an agricultural migrant village, played an important part in the development of rural sanitation. This work was greatly advanced during the 1930s through the federal privy-building programs of the Civil Works Administration and the Work Projects Administration.

c. 1930

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