вЂњItвЂ™s interesting that, while many of the specific problems are different, many of the larger issues are the same,вЂќ Miglus says. Other artifacts include a book on fevers, published in Middletown in the early 19th century, pamphlets on occupational health, examples of 19th century plumbing fixtures and suggested water filtration systems, and early 20th-century quarantine signs. These social hygiene societies were formed in the early 20th century to combat the spread of venereal disease a major concern with a moral twist.вЂќ The founding of ConnecticutвЂ™s organization predated the American Social Hygiene Association by three years. Thomas Hepburn, Katherine HepburnвЂ™s father, was the secretary. вЂњWe have the records of the Connecticut Society of Social Hygiene (1911-1921) in the Hartford Medical Society library,вЂќ says HMS librarian Jenny Miglus, who created the exhibit. The display includes a state entomologistвЂ™s report on ConnecticutвЂ™s mosquito problem from 1915 which includes a map of New Haven where malarial mosquitoes breed the pamphlet вЂњTheory and Facts of Cigarette Smoking,вЂќ published by the Axton-Fisher Tobacco Company in 1934 and books about other types of smoking: one from 1938 titled вЂњMarihuana: AmericaвЂ™s New Drug Problem,вЂќ and the 1882 text вЂњOpium-smoking in America and China.вЂќ The case of six shelves covers five categories: occupational health, water and sanitation, communicable disease, substance abuse, and social hygiene. This week is National Public Health Week and the exhibit вЂњPublic Health: An Historical PerspectiveвЂќ features artifacts from the Hartford Medical Society Historical Library, which is housed at the Health Center. Early 20th-century physicians had to contend with outbreak threats that are almost unheard of in todayвЂ™s developed world, such as measles, smallpox, yellow fever and malaria.Д«ut an exhibit now on display in the UConn Health CenterвЂ™s Stowe Library reveals that some historic public health concerns are still issues today.

Artifacts of the 20th century