Predecessors to the Board of Registration for the Healing Arts

Predecessors to the Board of Registration for the Healing Arts By Reference Archivist Kelsey Berryhill

The licensing of health-designated professionals has a long history in Missouri, culminating in 1959 when Gov. James T. Blair, Jr., signed into law Senate Bill 50, consolidating several older boards into a single body called the Board of Registration for the Healing Arts. Now under the purview of the Division of Professional Registration, a part of the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance, this board oversees the registrations of physicians, midwives, osteopaths, physical therapists, speech pathologists, athletic trainers and even perfusionists! And while we have a few of the board’s records through 1993, those of its predecessors should not be overlooked, especially by genealogists with Missouri ancestors in a medical profession.

Licensing of physicians in Missouri began in 1883 with “An Act to regulate the practice of medicine in the State of Missouri” and “An Act to create a Board of Health for the State of Missouri.” When these went into effect, all practicing physicians had to verify their credentials by presenting a medical school diploma to the Board of Health, then passing a qualification exam before registering with both the board and the clerk of the county in which they lived. A 1901 law similarly required professional midwives to register with the Board of Health and their local county clerk, though many were already adhering to the 1883 law and registering as physicians.

Osteopathy, a branch of medical practice emphasizing physical manipulation of muscle tissue and bones that started in Missouri, is another health-designated profession now licensed by the state, but this wasn’t always the case. Shortly after its 1895 founding, osteopaths attempted to obtain licensing, but Gov. William Stone vetoed a bill that would have done so because he thought the practice secretive and “illegitimate science.” That official view didn’t last long, however, because in 1903, Senate Bill 417 created the State Board of Osteopathic Registration and Examination. This body worked much like the Board of Health, in that a practitioner had to provide a medical school diploma, pass an examination, receive board certification and then register with their local county clerk. Recently processed records available at the Missouri State Archives include a collection of Physician’s Registers, a Register of Midwives, applications for certification by the Board of Health, as well as those for certification by the Board of Osteopathic Registration and Examination, and a small series of physician examination applications submitted in June 1926, November 1926 and July 1927, many including applicant photographs. Registration records provide a name, school attended, county of residence, age, years in practice and more, while applications generally include additional information, such as a birthdate, address and, in some cases, a school transcript. A full finding aid to the collection is available online here: www.sos.mo.gov/ CMSImages/Archives/findingaids/RG337.1.pdf.

Also accessible online are finding aids to the Missouri State Archives’ county records on microfilm. View these at www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/county/croll to determine the availability of microfilmed professional registration records from a specific county, but keep in mind that county clerks may have additional records that are not a part of the archives’ collection.

While not typically thought of by family historians, professional registrations and applications do provide helpful genealogical information. Along with when and where they practiced medicine, they might provide such important details as a missing pre-1910 birthdate or the location of a previously unknown residence. To access any of these records after viewing the finding aids, contact our reference staff at archives@sos.mo.gov.

Register of Midwives licensed by the Missouri State Board of Health, dating to the late-19th/early-20th century.

Minnola Stallings’ Application for a License from the State Board of Health of Missouri, by Examination, dated June 8, 1927.