AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA:

The American Lung Association of Minnesota (ALAM) was organized on July 18, 1906 as the Minnesota Association for the Prevention and Relief of Tuberculosis with George C. Christian, a member of the Anti-Tuberculosis Committee of the Associated Charities of Minneapolis, as its first president. The original objectives of the association were six-fold: to distribute educational information regarding the cause, treatment, and prevention of tuberculosis; to compile and publish information concerning the statewide incidence of tuberculosis; to advocate health legislation; to cooperate with state and local authorities and other voluntary groups; to support local relief and prevention associations; and to promote the establishment of treatment facilities and services for the tuberculous. To achieve the aim of cooperation with other groups and to popularize their objectives, the Association's initial constitution extended ex-officio membership to such community and medical leaders as the state governor, the state presidents and directors of the Board of Health, the Board of Medical Examiners, the Medical Society, the Veterinary Association, the Nurses Association, the Board of Labor, the Board of Control, the Federation of Labor, and the Municipal League, as well as the superintendents of state and municipal hospitals and state and normal schools. Throughout its life span, the Association's work has primarily centered on three fronts: health education, respiratory disease diagnosis and prevention, and the funding of these activities through annual Christmas Seal sales. From the beginning, inter-agency cooperation has been a mainstay of its educational and medical programs, its legislative advocacy, and its fund raising activities.

During its formative years, the Association focused on providing treatment facilities and the advocacy of a county sanatorium system, which was enacted by the state in 1913. In 1914 the association changed its name to the Minnesota Public Health Association, reflecting the growing recognition that the control of tuberculosis was intrinsically related to other health issues. This change in name paralleled a broadening of educational and medical programs with a focus during the latter teens and twenties on the testing of cattle herds and milk products, the pasteurization of milk, the funding and training of public health nurses, free clinics providing Mantoux and X-ray diagnostic services, the statewide distribution of tuberculin for Mantoux testing, case-finding surveys, and health, hygiene, and physical education for school children. Publication of a monthly magazine, the Minnesota Public Health Association Journal, began in 1916. This magazine continued until 1961 under the later titles: Minnesota Health Journal (1919-1923), the Northwestern Health Journal (1923-1929), and Everybody's Health (1929-1961). The reputation and mission of the Association was further advanced with the organization and mobilization of affiliated county associations in 1919.

During the 1920s and 1930s the Association continued providing testing services and compiling case surveys, but also enlarged its medical and educational programs by instituting a series of courses with the Minnesota State Medical Association geared specifically toward physicians and nurses, developing a series of poster and essay contests aimed at school students, and cooperating with 4-H in its teen health championship program. Additionally, X-ray consultation services were provided with the assistance of the Minnesota Radiological Society to promote standard film processing and analytic techniques.

Local communities and schools took the forefront in the 1940s when the Association cooperated with the American School Health Association in grading schools who met certain qualifications, which included testing students, parents, faculty, and personnel. Community health was further emphasized by the Association's promotion of a county accreditation program. Counties having a tuberculosis death rate of 10% or less per 100,000 population and an infection rate of 10% or less of its high school seniors were certified as accredited counties by the Minnesota Board of Health and the State Medical Association. Furthermore, a mobile X-ray unit was put into operation for statewide use, diagnostic services were provided for the testing of World War II service personnel, and the Association cooperated with the U.S. Department of Public Health Service in a 1947 program of mass photoflourographic X-ray surveys.

During the 1950s the Association began to provide health education workshops for school teachers and lay workers, to promote hospital admission X-ray programs, and to award the first of many research and scholarship grants. In an effort to clarify public confusion and to re-emphasize its mission against tuberculosis, the Association changed its name to the Minnesota Tuberculosis and Health Association in 1951. During this time it continued providing educational and diagnostic services for the accreditation and testing of schools and communities but also began extending its services to nursing homes, industrial plants, and service industries.

In the 1960s as tuberculosis began to come under control with the advance of drug therapies, the Association broadened its mission to cover all respiratory diseases including asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, histoplasmosis and other fungal infections, influenza, lung cancer, and pneumonia, besides tuberculosis. In 1961 questions concerning the administrative efficiency of the annual Christmas Seal campaign resulted in the reorganization of the county affiliates into eight regional districts and three local affiliates; one local for each of Hennepin, Ramsey, and St. Louis counties. Reorganization issues continued to concern the Association throughout the next three decades until 1992 when the Ramsey County organization merged with the state association. In 1964, in conjunction with its affiliates and the American Thoracic Society, the Association awarded the University of Minnesota the first of an ongoing $20,000 grant to fund a teaching position in pulmonary diseases. In 1967 the name of the Association was changed to the Minnesota Respiratory Health Association to reflect the Association's broadened focus and to avert potential public criticism regarding the use of Christmas Seal funds and the then lowered incidence of tuberculosis.

The Association again changed its name in 1973 to the Minnesota Lung Association to more closely identify with its parent affiliate, the American Lung Association (ALA). Programs during the 1970s included the screening of tobacco smokers to measure breathing capacities and to detect cases evidencing early symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Breathing classes for persons with asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema began to be offered and summer camps for asthmatic children were established. Many of the programs during this time focused on tobacco and the effects of smoking. These programs included smoking cessation clinics and a mobile education unit to teach school students about the respiratory system and smoking's adverse effects. In 1974, in cooperation with the Minnesota divisions of the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association as well as the state departments of health and education, the first D-Day (Don't Smoke Day) event was inaugurated. This event reached national popularity in 1980 under the sponsorship of the American Cancer Society and is still held each November as the Great American Smokeout. During this decade the Association also began to augment its Christmas Seal fund raising with a series of canoe, bicycle, ski, and hiking trips. Legislative work included joining with the Association for Non-Smokers' Rights (ANSR) to lobby for the 1975 passage of the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act.

In 1981 the Association again changed its name at the insistence of the American Lung Association to the American Lung Association of Minnesota. During the 1980s and 1990s the Association again broadened it mission by including environmental risks, such as air pollution, agricultural hazards, radon, and sick buildings in its educational and diagnostic programs as well as continuing its legislative and educational campaigns against tobacco.

Throughout its existence the Association has considered its educational mission as the public's foremost need and has implemented this cause through the use of exhibits, bulletins, posters, pamphlets, films, special events, media publicity, public service announcements, a speakers bureau, workshops, and testing clinics. As stated in its 1986 bylaws, the purpose of the Association has been refined from its original six objectives to the single goal of preventing and controlling lung disease. Over the years its executive secretaries and directors have included Christopher Easton (1909-1913), Hibbert Winslow Hill (1914-1915 and 1918-1920), Ignatius J. Murphy (1915-1918), Linda James (1920-1921), William F. Wild (1921-1924), E.A. Meyerding (1924-1957), Josiah G. Neal (1958-1970), and Dorothy Berg (1971- ).

Historical information was taken from the collection and from the book, Invited and Conquered: Historical Sketch of Tuberculosis in Minnesota, by J. Arthur Myers and published by the Minnesota Public Health Association in 1949.

Return to top

The collection contains articles of incorporation and bylaws, correspondence and memoranda, minutes, board membership data, budgets and financial reports, fund raising statistics, reports, surveys, press files, audio tapes, video recordings, photographs, and printed material documenting the internal operations, financial status, fund raising activities, educational programs, legislative advocacy, and cooperative projects of the association. While the Association's administrative actions are well documented in the minutes (1910-1975) and affiliation files (1924-1988), that portion of the collection documenting educational programs and internal committee work date only from the late 1950s to the early 1990s.

Also included are files containing organizational, administrative, and program materials pertaining to affiliated associations in Hennepin County, Ramsey County, and the northeast region, as well as other Minnesota counties and regions.

Additional information regarding each of the eleven series in this collection may be found in the Detailed Description of the Collection. For a list of these series, consult the Organization of the Collection which follows.

Return to top

The records have been divided into the following eleven series:

Return to top

Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. American Lung Association Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 15,195; 15,341

Processing Information:

Processed by: Monica Manny Ralston, August 1997.

Catalog ID number: 990017349150104294

Return to top

The administrative files contain historical and biographical information, the articles of incorporation and bylaws, minimal financial information, annual program goals and objectives, board and employee rosters, and the minutes of annual meetings, the Board of Directors, and the Executive Committee. References to additional files which can supplement information missing from these files are listed in the scope notes below.

Return to top

The affiliation files provide the richest and most extensive aggregate documenting the activities and management of the Association. These files contain annual reporting information submitted to the American Lung Association for their review of the state organization and its affiliated organizations as well as the membership contracts which resulted from this annual review. The files are arranged chronologically and contain three sets: Contracts; Committee on Qualifications; and End of Year Reports. The contracts (1924-1953, 1965-1988) contain the correspondence and legal documents pertaining to the state association's constituent membership with the national association, and the correspondence, internal memoranda, and legal documents pertaining to the state's agreements with its constituent members in the northeast region and in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. The files of the Committee on Qualifications and Contracts (1941-1973) continued by the End of Year Reports (1974-1987) contain the annual reporting information submitted to the national association. These files typically include a completed questionnaire giving data on bylaws, board membership, organizational structure and finances, as well as copies of the independent audit, the budget and financial statements, Christmas Seal campaign income and expense reports, the annual report, any amended bylaws and articles of incorporation, and the program of work. Beginning in 1973 files containing the same reporting information for Hennepin County, Ramsey County, and the Northeast region are included. Prior to 1973 financial information for the county and regional affiliates are included with the state's reports.

Return to top

Included within the board and committee files are correspondence and memoranda, announcements, committee meeting minutes and reports, project reports and proposals, policy drafts and statements, job descriptions, research proposals, and scattered subject files pertaining to the Association's financial activities, educational and health programs, select issues, and special events or projects. Arranged on a fiscal year basis, these files can supplement information contained within the administrative and affiliation files by providing in-depth documentation regarding activities and operations which are briefly reported in the minutes or annual reports. Of particular importance to the Association's administrative history are the performance reviews and self evaluations conducted in 1969, 1971, 1976-1978, and 1982-1983, as well as the reorganization discussions which took place in 1960, 1964, 1966, 1970, and 1973. Standing committees routinely represented within these files are those with responsibility for ALA-affiliate relations, awards, community health services, finance and audit, fund raising, government relations, health education, long range planning, lung disease, nominating, personnel, program and budget, research, and smoking and health.

Return to top

Outside of the affiliation files, which provide a broad overview of the Association's annual programs, the Program Files provide the best detail regarding the Association's educational, legislative, and inter-agency activities. The files are arranged alphabetically and include a field diary from 1939, when the Association was involved in statewide tuberculin testing, and correspondence, memoranda, conference programs, curriculum kits, legislative agendas, meeting minutes, reports, and surveys dating from 1972 through 1994. Issues covered by the Association's later programs include asthma, air pollution, farm respiratory hazards, marijuana, radon, sick building syndrome, and tobacco. The majority of the files concern the Association's work in the area of anti-smoking education and legislation and include extensive coverage of the D-Day program and their participation in the Association for Non-Smokers' Rights and the Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society 2000.

Return to top

The Press Files are arranged by media type and are further arranged chronologically thereunder. The files include clip sheets, news releases, radio public service announcements, television spots, and a few subject files related to specific activities. Some photographs are included with the news releases. See Sound and Visual Recordings (Box 31) for public service announcements broadcast on radio and television between the 1980s and 1990s.

Return to top

The Sound and Visual Recordings include program materials, public service announcements intended for radio and television, and broadcast news programs.

Return to top

The photographs consist of black and white prints illustrating special and promotional events occurring between 1924 and 1975 connected with the Association's annual Christmas Seal campaign as well as a governor's tea held on D-Day in 1975. Included within the Christmas Seal campaign photographs are portraits of Governor Preus with his daughter dressed in Christmas Seals (1924), Governor Freeman with his twins (1956), and Ed Marinaro of the Vikings football team as campaign spokesman with Mitch Skrove, winner of the children's Christmas Seal design contest (1975). Also included within this series are prints depicting some of the Association's health and education programs including a doctor's round table, a pulmonary function evaluation, and the awarding of research grants. Other miscellaneous items included within this series show the Association's office building at 614 Portland Avenue in St. Paul (ca. 1948), an early children's clinic, and various association officials and local physicians at Association functions. The majority of these photographs carry typed or hand-printed captions on the verso which identify the names of those photographed. Those with typed captions may have been used in the Association's magazine, Everybody's Health.

Other portraits of Christmas Seal campaign or trek fund raiser spokespersons are scattered within the Press Files (Box 30). Additional portraits of board members, local and national tuberculosis health professionals, and Association volunteers are included with the Biographical Sketches located within the Administrative Files (Box 1).

Return to top

This series contains historical information regarding the international origin of the seal, its early promotion in the United States by the Red Cross, the development of its trademark association with the anti-tuberculosis movement and the American Lung Association, and a chronology of American seal designs. Also included within this series is one folder pertaining to a Minnesota artist, Frede Salomonsen, whose design was selected for the 1965 seal, and a set of scrapbooks documenting campaign administration and press coverage in Minnesota.

Additional and more detailed information regarding the Association's Christmas Seal fund raising activities are scattered throughout the collection. For additional promotional items, philatelic samples, and scrapbooks related to the annual campaigns, see Oversize Materials (Boxes 46-47). For illustrations of special events connected to the annual campaigns, see Photographs (Box 2). For news releases and public service announcements, see Press Files (Box 30) and Sound and Visual Recordings (Box 31). For statistics regarding the campaign's financial status, see Administrative Files (Box 2). For contracts, correspondence, detailed financial data, and additional information regarding the association's role as authorized state agent for this annual nationwide campaign, see Affiliation Files (Boxes 6-9).

Return to top

This series contains materials regarding the constituent relationships between the national, the state, and the local lung associations. Included are administrative materials pertaining to the American Lung Association, administrative and program materials pertaining to the associations in Hennepin County, Ramsey County, and Minnesota regions, and program materials pertaining to the Minnesota Thoracic Society.

Materials pertaining to the associations in Hennepin County, Ramsey County, and the northeast region include correspondence, bylaws, financial information, program objectives, board minutes and rosters, committee files, program files, press releases, and miscellaneous printed material. The most complete set concerns the organization in Ramsey County which decided to merge with ALAM in 1992 and whose records are incorporated within this set. The annual reports of these affiliates are also available in the Minnesota Historical Society reference library. To supplement data contained within this series or that appearing within the annual reports, see the reporting information contained within the Affiliation Files (Boxes 7-9).

Return to top

Brochures, pamphlets, leaflets, handbooks, monographs, and article reprints published by the American Lung Association and its medical division, the American Thoracic Society, or other organizations for public distribution by state and local lung associations to educate medical professionals, laymen, patients, students, and the general population. Topics covered by the publications include lung and respiratory diseases and health risks, testing and treatment methods, and prevention. Also includes some miscellaneous newsletters (Stationbreak, 1985; Keeping in Touch, 1988-1989; and Growing Healthy, 1990-1994) printed by ALAM. See Oversize Materials (Box 46) for health education posters printed by the American Lung Association in the 1950s and 1960s.

Return to top

Return to top

Annual reports, magazines, and newsletters of the association and its affiliated organizations in Hennepin County, Ramsey County, and the northeast region of Minnesota are available in the Minnesota Historical Society serials collection.

A variety of print materials related to the work of the Association in the statewide control of tuberculosis are available in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.

Return to top

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Air -- Pollution -- Minnesota.

Associations, institutions, etc. -- Minnesota.

Asthma in children -- Minnesota.

Fund raising -- Minnesota.

Health education -- Minnesota.

Lungs -- Diseases.

Passive smoking.

Public health -- Minnesota.

Radon.

Respiratory organs -- Diseases.

Smoking -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Smoking cessation programs -- Minnesota.

Smoking in the workplace -- Minnesota.

Tobacco habit.

Tuberculosis -- Minnesota.

Organizations:

American Lung Association of Hennepin County (Hennepin County, Minn.).

American Lung Association of Ramsey County (Ramsey County, Minn.).

American Lung Association.

Association for Non-Smokers' Rights (Minn.).

Minnesota Association for the Prevention and Relief of Tuberculosis.

Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society 2000.

Minnesota Lung Association.

Minnesota Public Health Association (1914-1952).

Minnesota Respiratory Health Association.

Minnesota Thoracic Society.

Minnesota Tuberculosis and Health Association.

Types of Documentation:

Audiotapes.

Contracts.

Photographs.

Posters -- 20th century.

Press releases.

Seals and labels (Philately).

Video recordings.

Return to top