RMS Olympic Transmigrant Certificate - 1921
Transmigrant Certificate, Issued in 1921 to a Third Class Passenger on the White Star Line RMS Olympic. It Is Intended as a Health Certificate Notifying Anyone That the Carrier has been Inspected, Vaccinated, Examined, and Vermin-free. GGA Image ID # 1fb81549ef
Olympic Transmigrant Certificate
Will Margarethe 3. Class
Coming From A Non-Infected District in Germany, Proceeding to Southampton
Has been, at the Auswandererhallen, Hamburg [Note 1]
Vaccinated, Examined for Vermin, After Disinfection, and Found Vermin-Free, This Date 27 September 1921. Subsequent Exposure to Verminous Infestation Renders This Certificate Invalid.
Date of Departure: 29 September 1921
Acting Assistant Surgeon
United States Public Health Service
/s/ J. Donovan, Acting Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Public Health Service
Other Signatories: Dr. Med. W. Unua and Burr Teiguson
Note 1: Auswandererhallen were immigrant huts set up by the steamship companies to house immigrants in transit.
Infectious diseases such as typhus fever, typhoid fever, cholera, smallpox, dysentery, and other diseases spreading by alimentary tracts caused the most significant epidemiological problem. A considerable number of smallpox cases were noted in 1920-1922.
Commentary by The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives
This Transmigrant Certificate is one of the poorest examples of layout for a health certificate we have encountered. It appears that it was made so that at a glance, you would know that the person was Vaccinated, Examined, and Vermin-Free, or safe to travel on your vessel.
Information About the Transmigrant Certificate
- Title: Transmigrant Certificate
- Issued by: United States Public Health Service
- Date of Issue: 27 September 1921
- Date of Departure: 29 September 1921
