This collection houses vital statistic reports, notes, photographs, scrapbooks, slides, disease studies, publications, and administrative files documenting the Knox County Health Department. The bulk of the collection is composed of news articles collected in scrapbooks dating from 1931 to 1991 and vital statistics showing Knoxville, Knox County, and Tennessee between 1909 and 1996.

Series I: Vital Statistics, 1874-1996, contains reports published by both the Knox County Health Department (Sub-Series A) and the state of Tennessee (Sub-Series B). The items in Sub-Series A are a mix of annual reports, local disease studies, sanitation surveys, health condition assessments, and ambulatory care reports. One report titled The Prevalence, Distribution and Sources of Typhoid Fever in the city of Knoxville, Tennessee was conducted in collaboration with E. G. Morales of the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Annual reports, studies on industrial hygiene, and community sanitation plans are also found in this sub-series. The majority of the items in Sub-Series B are Tennessee vital and morbidity statistics reports ranging from 1927 to 1996. This sub-series also includes The Early History of the Tennessee Department of Public Health, which chronicles state health services from 1876 to 1909.

Series II: Reports and Publications, 1935-1992 houses Board of Health Minutes from 1935 to 1992 (Sub-Series A), Board of Health Regulations from 1949 to 1980 and from 1986 to 1987 (Sub-Series B), brochures published from 1937 to 1964 (Sub-Series C), and Yearbooks dating from 1977 (Sub-Series D).

Series III: Visual Materials, circa 1930-1985, contains photographs, proofs, negatives, and slides from the Knox County Health Department depicting a wide variety of scenes, including a slaughter house, health examinations, dental examinations, waste disposal, and public outreach events.

Series IV: Scrapbooks, 1930-1991 contains scrapbooks filled with news clippings and photographs. The majority of the scrapbooks contain news articles from a single year arranged according to topic. A few of the scrapbooks focus on a single health issue, for example seatbelts and children's health.

Series V: Administrative Files, 1877-1998 houses administrative materials created by the Knoxville Health Department. These items include Topical Filings (Sub-Series A), Newsletters (Sub Series B), Personal Files (Sub-Series C), Manuals (Sub-Series D), and Other Files (Sub-Series E). The items in Sub-Series A are taken from topical filings found in the collection. Sub-Series B includes publications from both the Tennessee Department of Public Health and the Knox County Health Department. The bulk of Sub-Series C comes from Dr. A. G. Hufstedler's files, which date from 1948 to 1960. Sub-Series E: Other Files is composed of items housed in three boxes that had no discernable original order. These items may have been pulled to write a history of the Health Department or from the Education Department files, as several are marked History or Education. Series IV: Oversized Materials contains items too large to be stored with those of like content.