Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

The following is an interim description which may change when detailed cataloguing takes place in future:

Records acquired due to the closure of the CIEH library:

CIEH Annual Congress - conference catalogues and papers, 1958-2008;

CIEH Seminar papers and folders of delegate packs, 1980-2007;

CIEH Member briefings and Training, 1940s-2010;

CIEH photographs of events and staff, 1950s-1980s;

CIEH publications and member theses, 1950s-2012;

CIEH bulletins and journal including Form Forum, Health and Safety and Pollution and CIEH journal, 1975-2009;

CIEH journal 'The Sanitary Inspector'; 'The Sanitarian', 1902;

CIEH journal 'The Sanitarian', 1945-1966;

CIEH journal 'Environmental Health Journal', 1970-1999;

CIEH journal 'Environmental Health Practitioner', 2000-2006;

CIEH magazine 'Environmental Health News', 1988-2016;

CIEH Annual Reports;

NPAP annual statistical and governance reports;

National Pest Advisory Panel (NPAP) guides produced by CIEH, 1965-2010s.

1940s-2010s

31 boxes

This collection was acquired by Wellcome in April 2017.

During 1940s, Edwin Chadwick, a Poor Law Commissioner, conducted an inquiry into the causes of poverty which concluded that people often became poor because of ill health due to a bad environment. He believed that improving sanitation was the key to breaking this vicious circle. Chadwick led a vigorous campaign for change which eventually led to the Public Health Act 1848. The Act provided for the appointment of Inspectors of Nuisances, the forerunners of today’s environmental health practitioners, in areas of need.

In 1883 the Association of Public Sanitary Inspectors was established. The role of environmental health practitioners changed and grew over time, with standards of qualification rising until, in the 1960s, it became a graduate profession. It was granted a Royal Charter in 1984.

In 1951 a Ministry of Health working party examined the training of sanitary inspectors. A new diploma that was completed after formal training led to a change in title to public health inspector. Environmental health became a graduate profession in the 1960s, when diplomas were phased out and replaced by degree courses. In 1974 public health work became the responsibility of the National Health Service. Environmental health work remained in local government. That situation changed in April 2013 when public health once again became the responsibility of local government under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Today, the CIEH continues to promote the importance and standing of environmental health in local government as well as in a range of other organisations. (Source: http://www.cieh.org/about_us/history.html)

This collection is currently uncatalogued and cannot be ordered online. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details.