1
Mexican Public Health History through Film: 
The Riches of a Film Archive, 1945–1970 
María Rosa Gudiño 
Published: November 25, 2019 
Figure 1. Collage: Shooting Public Health Scenes 
Introduction
In Mexico, the use of film for educational campaigns on hygiene and public 
health topics has a long history, beginning with the films made by the Ministry 
of Health (Secretaría de Salud) under the presidency of Porfirio Díaz in the 
late nineteenth century. Subsequently, in the early twentieth century, American 
films were used at two important moments in the history of Mexican public 
health. The first one came during the 1920s as a result of the Rockefeller 
Foundation’s health strategy in Mexico. The second came in the 1940s with 
Health for the Americas, a cultural and educational program aimed at farmers 
in Latin America that was headed by Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator of Inter-
Research in Film and History ‣ Issue 2 2019
©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Research in Film and History. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the 
Creative Commons BY–NC–ND 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
2 
American Affairs. Film established itself as a favored alternative for educating 
illiterate rural populations. One of the filmmakers to work on the program was 1. The use of Disney films as an
Walt Disney, who produced thirteen short animated films.1 Due to the instrument for hygiene education in
Mexico is the topic of chapter four of 
predominance of American films, Mexican public health educational films my book, El María Rosa Gudiño
have remained largely unknown. The production, subject matter, and use of Cejudo, Educación higiénica y cine 
de salud en México 1925–1960 
Mexican films are almost entirely absent from historical studies of public health (México, El Colegio de México, 2016). 
by physicians and historians. Their existence was, until recently, known only Other authors to analyze Disney films 
include Eric Smoodin, ed., Disney 
from the lists of titles in some institutional books published by the Ministry of Discourse: Producing the Magic 
Health. Which prompted the question: if they really had existed, where exactly Kingdom (London: Routledge, 2014),
Julianne Burton-Carvajal, “‘Surprise 
were they now? Package’: Looking Southward with 
Disney,” in Smoodin, Disney 
Discourse  , 131–147, Linda 
After two years of attempting to request films from the Public Health Ministry Cartwright, “Cultural Contagion: On
Historical Archive (Archivo Histórico de la Secretaría de Salud, or AHSS),2 I Disney’s Health Education Films for 
Latin America,” in Smoodin, Disney 
was finally told in 2006 that a collection of films, including 180 cans of 16 mm Discourse  , 169–180, Julie Prieto, 
and 35 mm film, had been added to their collection of written documents and “Making a Modern Man: Disney’s 
Literacy and Health Education 
photos. The film cans were labeled numerically, each number indicating a title Campaign in Latin and South America 
and probable date of filming, but none of the labels had any information about during WWII,” in The Pedagogy of 
Pop: Theoretical and Practical 
the films’ content or any hint as to what sort of stories they contained. Strategies for Success , ed. Edward
Additionally, due to unsuitable environmental conditions for preserving film Janak and Denise Blum (United 
Kingdom, Lexington Books, 2013), 
and the lack of relevant experts, it was necessary for the films to be moved to 29–44, Rodolfo Vidal González, La 
the vaults at the National Autonomous University of Mexico Film Library actividad 
3 propagandística de Walt Disney (Filmoteca de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) in late 2006.  durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial 
After they were received at the Film Library, their state of preservation was (Salamanca: Publicaciones Universidad 
Pontificia de Salamanca, 2000). 
reviewed, so that deteriorated films could be removed to avoid contaminating 
the rest, and they were stored in properly climate-controlled vaults to await 2.“It was officially created in 1945, 
although the assembly and 
cataloguing. organization of its collections had 
begun in 1942. In 1978, the archive’s 
The move of the films from the AHSS to the Film Library confirmed that the organizational and descriptive 
categories were established, allowing it 
occasionally cited films, whose titles were only mentioned in the Bulletins and to consolidate itself as one of the 
Memoirs, the official publication of the Public Health and Welfare Ministry richest historical archives in the 
country on topics of public health and 
(Secretaría de Salubridad y Asistencia or SSA) were still in existence. Naturally, public welfare.” On the AHSS, see 
this confirmation of the existence of an untouched body of audiovisual sources also http://pliopencms05.salud.gob.mx:8080/
opened up new questions and avenues for research. What sort of films made archivo/ahssa/principal
up the Public Health and Welfare Ministry (Secretaría de Salubridad y 
3. The UNAM Film Library was 
Asistencia or SSA) collection? Were they only Mexican films? What directors, founded on July 8, 1960, and it is the
cinematographers, and producers were involved in their creation? What topics largest film archive in Mexico. In 
addition to rescuing, preserving, and 
did they deal with? Were they educational or propagandistic in nature? Finally, restoring film material, it shares this 
as sources, what did the films reveal to researchers? material at a national and international 
level. Rafael Aviña,
Filmoteca UNAM: 50 Years 
To answer these questions, the films needed to be catalogued.4 In the (México, UNAM and Dirección 
General de actividades 
course of the cataloguing process, a significant number of films produced in cinematográficas, 2010) was published 
Mexico were identified, offering many possible objects of study. As as part of the library’s fiftieth
anniversary celebrations. 
mentioned above, the collection comprises 180 cans of 16 mm and 35 mm Available online at https://issuu.com/
film, but during the cataloguing process, several duplicates were additionally libro_filmo/docs/filmotecaunam_libro50anos
identified, along with sound reels, deteriorated films, and thirty-six foreign 
movies from Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, France, and the USA, 
4. The UNAM Film Library 
confirming that films had been exchanged with other countries. Some of Cataloguing Department is headed
them are in black and white, while others are in color, the sound on most of by Angel Martínez. He and Mario
Tovar provided me with all the tools 
them is reduced to simple voiceovers, and they have short run times, ranging a researcher could need to complete 
from 10 to 25 minutes. Chronologically, they were made between 1946 and the work to a satisfactory standard
and in a timely manner. I had the 
1980. pleasure of learning the fascinating 
task of film cataloguing from them. 
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film
3 
The descriptive cataloguing process made it possible to identify public health 
topics and content that had been filmed for specific reasons, the names of 
a number of directors who worked with the institution, and features of the 
films’ narratives. It also allowed the educational and propagandistic intentions 
behind each of the audiovisual stories told on screen to be ascertained. At the 
end of this enriching interdisciplinary project, a previously unknown film 
archive had been brought to light and new sources had become available for 
5. I published an initial look at
research on the history of Mexican public health in the second half of the this collection in my article “Un
twentieth century.5 This article presents a detailed account of the information recorrido por el acervo
obtained from the cataloguing process and is organized into three sections. filmográfico de la Secretaría de
Salud de México,” História, 
The first covers some general aspects of the use of film as a source in Ciéncias, Saúde-Manguinhos 19,
historical research on medicine and public health, with a particular focus on no. 1 (Jan–Mar 2012): 325–334.
this institutional film archive, which has helped to revive a part of the SSA’s 
audiovisual memory. The second part deals with the qualitative aspects of 
the archive and presents several of the documentaries as examples, taking 
account of the historical context in which, they were filmed. The final 
section examines the dissemination of this film material and how some of 
the films have been made available on the AHSS website. 
I. Film as a Source for Research and Its Role in the Study of Public Health
History in Mexico
Since the 1960s, there has been methodological skepticism about the use of 
film in historical studies as a primary source of information about the 
past. Pierre Sorlin has noted the reticence among historians in the 1960s to 6. Pierre Sorlin, “El cine, reto
view film as a source for historical research,6 while Marc Ferro has shown para el historiador,” Istor V, no.
2 (2005): 11–35.
how cinema, despite over 100 years having passed since its invention, was still 
not seen as a valid source for historians on the grounds that it lacked 7. Marc Ferro, Historia 
precision and credibility.7 Nevertheless, films do tell stories that, although contemporánea y cine 
(Barcelona: Ariel, 2000), 39.
they may be made up, nonetheless provide us with cultural references 
concerning the society and period they depict. We should not lose sight of 
the fact that cinema, in order to seduce its audiences, invents things, and it 
would be naive to deny the importance of images in today’s world.
The analytical wealth of a film lies not only in its aesthetic quality, however, but 
also in its social and cultural potential. It shows us lifestyles, trends of thought 
and behavior, and ideologies that offer the viewer a sociohistorical window onto 8. Julia Tuñón, “Torciéndole el
the time or characters portrayed on screen. As such, analysis of film does not cuello al filme: de la pantalla a la
necessarily need to focus on the work as a whole, but can instead be based on historia,” in Los andamios del 
historiador: Construcción y 
fragments of films. Taking account of the fact that films are intelligible texts that tratamiento de fuentes, ed.
can be decoded, like any written work, it is the historian who constructs the Camarena Ocampo and Lourdes
problematic with his or her questions.8 Film on public health topics has a Villafuerte (México, AGN-
INAH, 2001), 341.
particular history, and the paradigms set by films from the US are a 
fundamental part of the development of such films in Mexico after the 1940s. 9. This work was requested by
As an example, historian Adolf Nichtenhauser’s manuscript A History of the Audiovisual Training
Section, the Professional
Motion Pictures in Medicine, which remained unfinished upon his death in Training Division, the Bureau of
1953, is a pioneering catalogue of films produced by institutions.9 Films aimed at Medicine and Surgery, and the
preventing venereal diseases have also caught the attention of researchers in the Department of the Navy. A copy
is in National Library of
US. For instance, Allan Brandt has studied the social causes and Medicine. Adolf Nichtenhauser,
consequences of the spread of venereal diseases among the US population A History of Motion Pictures in 
from 1860 onward, and given a cinematographic, social, and educational Medicine, unpublished
manuscript (1953).
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film
4 
analysis of the films FIT TO WIN (USA, 1919) and THE END OF THE 10. Brandt M. Allan, No Magic 
Bullet: A Social History of 
ROAD (USA, 1919).10 Stacie Colwell has also analyzed THE END OF THE Venereal Disease in the United 
ROAD, but her study focuses on the film’s reception between 1919 and 1922, States since 1880 (Oxford:
when it was shown in cities across the United States.11 The significance of these Oxford University Press, 1985).
two films for the Mexican case is that they were used as part of the 1927 11. Colwell, Stacie, “The End of
National Anti-Venereal Campaign and were shown in various Mexican states.12 the Road: Gender, the
As noted earlier, the Health for the Americas film series, produced by the Dissemination of Knowledge and
the American Campaign against
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs under Nelson Venereal Disease during WWI,”
Rockefeller’s leadership, used short films from Walt Disney Productions for Camera Obscura (1992), 91–
its program.13 The presence of these US films rendered Mexican productions 125.
practically invisible. The titles of the films were published in the mentioned 12. Gudiño, Educación 
Bulletins and Memoirs, but no information about their content was recorded. higiénica, 121–153.
In the late 1950s, more complete information became available thanks to the 
13. Gudiño, Educación 
National Lottery for Public Assistance (Lotería Nacional para la Beneficencia higiénica, 158–190.
Pública) supporting the production of public health films. For example, 
180,000 pesos was given to Cinematográfica América Unida S.A. to produce a 14. “Agreement no. 1294
stipulating the contract with the
documentary of around one thousand feet, in color, and dealing with the title: ‘América Unida’ film company
The Battle against polio. Six months later, the same amount was provided for for the creation of the color
the creation of twelve documentaries on a variety of topics, including one titled documentaries The Battle against 
14 Polio and Public Health.PUBLIC HEALTH.  On July 13, 1960, representatives of Tricolor- Mexico, June 11, 1957,” in
Documentales de México, S.A. sent Dr. José Álvarez Amézquita, the Public Lotería Nacional para la
Health and Welfare Minister, a list of technical specifications for a Asistencia Pública, Archivo
Histórico, Departamento de
“professional cinematographic documentary” focusing on “rural medicine,” for Contabilidad, File H-1065.
which a filming budget of 150,000 pesos had already been agreed upon.15 
15. Letter sent to Dr. José
These examples show how the Public Health and Welfare Ministry hired Álvarez Amézquita by Ernesto
Julio Teissier and Raúl
production companies to film their documentaries in line with the institution’s Mendizábal of Documentales de
guidelines, which determined what topics were filmed, which directors and/or México, S.A., on July 13, 1960.
producers were hired, and which scripts made it to the screen. Without doubt, The letter requested a
documentary filmed in
this relationship between the institution and film directors opens up an Eastmancolor, in 35 mm format,
interesting line of research aimed at understanding how the public health and with a duration of ten
campaigns and the opening of clinics were covered in films. In order to address minutes with twenty projection
copies, ten 35 mm Eastmancolor
this point, after watching and cataloguing the films and situating them in a copies, and another ten 16 mm
historical space and time, it was important to search for (or to reconstruct from Kodachrome copies. In Lotería
visual representations) aspects of public health history revealed in the short Nacional para la Asistencia
Pública, Archivo Histórico,
stories of real-life individuals with specific medical conditions, who, at times Departamento de Contabilidad,
gratefully and at times resentfully, were cared for by the public health brigades, File H-1065. Subject: agreements
clinics, and professional healthcare workers. for payments relating to the
national malaria eradication and
public welfare campaigns.
II. The Films Begin to Speak
In the 1950s and 60s, there were three main public medical institutions in 
Mexico: the Public Health and Welfare Ministry, which originated in 1917 with 
the creation of the Public Health Department (Departamento de Salubridad 
Pública); the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro 
Social, founded in 1943); and the State Employee Social Security Institute 
(Instituto de Seguridad Social para los Trabajadores del Estado, founded in 
1959). The Public Health and Welfare Ministry established the specific agenda 
for the prevention and control of communicable diseases through its mobile 
health campaigns, which in some cases (for instance, the National Campaign 
for the Eradication of Malaria, (1957) were determined by the international
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film
5 
agenda of the World Health Organization. There were also major national 
campaigns aimed at eradicating diseases such as onchocerciasis, pinta, and 
polio. The same occurred with the hospital infrastructure network, with health 
centers and clinics being built systematically across the country. With these two 
main activities leading the Public Health and Welfare Ministry agenda, the 
Public Health Cinematography Committee was created in 1950 to oversee the 
creation of institutional films. 
It was within this historical context that the films that comprise the AHSS 
collection were made. Before we examine them, it is important to first note 
who was behind the cameras shooting these Mexican public health stories in 16. In the Public Health and
Welfare Ministry collection,
the service of a major government institution. The directors, cinematographers, there are seven documentaries
screenwriters, and producers identified during the cataloguing process include directed by Francisco del Villar,
Francisco del Villar (who has the greatest number of surviving documentaries),16 filmed between 1959 and 1970.
Their titles are PUERTAS
Adolfo Garnica, Demetrio Bilbatúa, and the German-Mexican Walter Reuter. CERRADAS, POLVO
These names and their film credentials open up interesting avenues for AMARGO, LA RESPUESTA,
research, as some of them later became some of the most important CRUZADA HEROICA,
SOMBRAS EN LA SELVA,
filmmakers in Mexico, like Francisco del Villar, who went on to an interesting PASOS EN LA ARENA, and
career in fictional cinema after his work with the Public Health and Welfare UN NUEVO ROSTRO.
Ministry, or Demetrio Bilbatúa, who recently donated his film archive to the 17. Verónica Díaz, “Devuelvo a
Ministry of Public Education (Secretaría de Educación Pública).17 Each of México parte de lo que me dio:
these filmmakers also included elements of melodrama18 in their documentaries. Bilbatúa,” Milenio, May 9, 2015,
https://www.milenio.com/
The documentaries show how the public health campaigns were carried cultura/devuelvo-a-mexico-
out, including all of the human and material resources deployed in parte-de-lo-que-me-dio-bilbatua
small communities far from Mexico City, the organization of these resources, 
illness maps, geographical routes, and accounts of the health workers’ jobs 18. Melodrama makes an
emotional appeal to viewers, and
(including nurses, sanitarians, social workers, and engineers, though all it was used in pamphlets and
these were generally overshadowed by the figure of the physician) and their flyers that were widely distributed
reception in communities, as well as the health festivals and other tools used in Mexico towards the end of the
nineteenth century. Historian
to promote health education. Andrés Ríos Molina remarks that
“melodrama permeated film,
radio, literature, comics and
television, and its omnipresence
still has not been the subject of
widespread analysis in Mexican
contexts.” Andrés Ríos Molina,
“Relatos pedagógicos,
melodramáticos y eróticos: La
locura en fotonovelas y cómics,
1963–1979,” (México, UNAM,
2017), 263, http://
www.historicas.unam.mx/
publicaciones/publicadigital/
libros/psiquiatria/688.html
Figure 2. Public health festival 
As mentioned above, most of the 180 films deal primarily with 
recommendations for how to prevent diseases such as typhus, malaria, pinta, 
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film
6 
lead poisoning, smallpox, onchocerciasis, rabies, tuberculosis, and polio. The 
filmmakers also documented the suffering of the ill and the joy of the healthy. 
When it is considered how these images were combined with voiceovers and a 
musical score that sets a certain emotional tone among viewers, these films’ 
pedagogical nature becomes apparent. 
The oldest films in the collection entitled DYSENTERY and SMALLPOX 
(USA, ca. 1946-1948) were produced by American filmmakers Jack Chertok 
(director) and Herbert D. Knapp (cinematographer) from the Office of the 
Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. Both visited Mexico in 1946 and filmed 
several short scenes showing the sanitary and health conditions in the country. 
The Public Health and Welfare Ministry requested they avoid “denigrating 
scenes,” however, such as women at work in typical Mexican marketplaces 
washing their dishes in a communal water trough. These films, together with 
Disney’s, made up the Health for the Americas film series (produced in 
Mexico in the 1940s), and copies of them were included in the AHSS 19. Gudiño, Educación 
collection.19 Higiénica, 153–190.
Two aspects of these films are worth highlighting. On the one hand, the 
Americans represented themselves as the bringers of healthy habits, and as the 
only one’s worthy of that role. On the other, they represented Latin 
Americans on screen as peasants in rural settings, which, as a representation, 
was far from fair. To explain disease and unhealthy ways of living in 
Mexico, and as a justification for the films, they depicted dichotomies of 
happiness and sadness, cleanliness and dirtiness, hard work and laziness. The 
assumption that farmers were unhealthy, sad, lazy, dirty people was made 
to seem natural. In these American films, the Mexican government does 
not appear to be dealing effectively with disease in the country. This 
bears mentioning because the representation contrasts with the messages in 
the Mexican films that make up the AHSS collection, which portray the 
Mexican government as concerned with the health of the Mexican people. 
The film discourse represented on screen depicts a dynamic public health 
system and, ultimately, shows that the government had the infrastructure 
resources needed to build clinics and hospitals and employed sufficient 
health workers to provide care for people suffering from all kinds of 
diseases.
The inclusion of such aspects in the Mexican films marks a clear difference 
from the American films. This difference is especially pronounced in the 
films about the health campaigns, which present the campaigns from a top-
down perspective and show the Mexican state, represented on screen by the 
Public Health and Welfare Ministry, bringing organization and efficiency to 
the health campaigns and their staff. To shed light on this structure, it is 
helpful to analyze two representative short films, RÍO ARRIBA (Upriver , 
Mexico, 1962), which deals with the National Anti-Tuberculosis 
Campaign, and MARTINA (Mexico, 1959), on the topic of nurse training.
As noted above, health campaigns were highly mobile, and this was clearly 
shown on screen through depictions of vehicles, horses, motorcycles, and cars. 
The best example is RÍO ARRIBA, a film focusing on the ship El Mensajero
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film
7 
de la Salud, which in 1962 began a journey to visit riverside towns along the 
Grijalva River in Tabasco State as part of a tuberculosis campaign. This 
documentary was funded by the National Committee for the Fight 
against Tuberculosis (Comité Nacional de Lucha contra la Tuberculosis, or 20. The CNLT was established
CNLT).20 The director Adolfo Garnica and cinematographer Armando in 1939 as an agency to promote
cooperation and social action in
Carrillo travel to Tabasco to film on the ship. RÍO ARRIBA presents a the fight against tuberculosis.
general perspective on the workings of a health campaign that combined Claudia Agostoni, “Timbres
preventive medicine and medical treatment, and begins by showcasing the rojos y el Comité Nacional de
Lucha contra la Tuberculosis,
natural beauty of the region and the enthusiasm of its people. The voiceover Ciudad de México 1939–1950,”
tells the story of how the crew, led by an epidemiologist, nurses, and health Revista CONAMED 22, no. 4
educators, arrived in advance on a smaller riverboat to let the local (2017): 199–201.
population know that the ship, fully equipped to attend to the sick with 
the BCG vaccine and to offer the healthy recommendations on how to 
prevent tuberculosis, was on its way. The eight days that the Mensajero de 
la Salud remained anchored were enough for Garnica and the CNLT to 
show viewers the modern technology and the efficiency of the health and 
medical staff. It is a story of success that is told from various angles, including 
showing the festive reception the people gave the ship and its crew upon 
arrival and their thankful send-off. With regards to public health, this short 
film helps to counter the negative way in which the Walt Disney films 
from the US depicted the “unhealthy” conditions in Mexico in the 1940s. 
By the 1960s, when RÍO ARRIBA was filmed, Mexicans were already 
enjoying the benefits offered by their government. 
Figure 3. Boat El Mensajero de la Salud in RÍO ARRIBA, Adolfo Garnica, MX 1961 
The medical and health staff who appear in these short films are generally 
portrayed either completing their training or working with the public: for 
example, in PASOS EN LA ARENA (Footprints in the Sand, Mexico, 1960), 
BRIGADAS JUVENILES DE LA SALUD (Youth Health Brigades, Mexico, 
1962), TRES HISTORIAS BLANCAS (Three White Stories, Mexico, 1958), 
and MARTINA. MARTINA presents the story of a young woman from the 
town of Mixtequilla in Oaxaca State, who is studying to become a nurse. With 
her father’s approval and the support of the town’s mayor, she goes to a health 
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film
8 
center to study, where she learns how to make hospital beds, to administer the 
smallpox vaccine, and to help in obstetrics. We always see this protagonist 
learning in classrooms and exam rooms. At the end of the course, with her 
diploma in hand, the young nurse returns to her town to care for her 
community. She makes up for the material shortages she faces with hard work. 
With support from the town’s mayor, Martina sets up the town clinic, makes 
house calls so she can remain in close contact with the townspeople and learn 
about their needs, works with teachers, and vaccinates schoolchildren. 
Through her work in the field, the townspeople come to know, love, and 
respect her. 
In both short films, the Mexican state appears on screen, demonstrating its 
interest in health campaigns and promoting education and professional training 
for health workers by helping to increase efficiency and providing the necessary 
funding. These representations function as “cinematographic texts” and as 
political and educational propaganda for the Mexican state, reinforcing its 
image as a benefactor committed to the welfare of the population. 
Figure 4. Shooting public health scenes 
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film
9 
Figure 5. A nurse working with a young indigenous woman 
III. The Films and Their Availability to Researchers
The aim of promoting the SSA collection was more than simply to create 
a thematic catalogue that awaits the arrival of researchers interested in the 
topic. Fortunately, the work invested in the cataloguing process has already 
borne fruit: two studies, conducted between 2010 and 2018, have been 
published that utilize a number of documentaries that were recovered during 21. Cien años de salud pública 
this process. The first was Cien años de salud pública: Una historia en en México: Historia en imágenes 
21 (Madrid, Secretaría de Salud,imágene s,  which was published in 2010 to commemorate 100 years of Sanofi, and Centro de
public health in Mexico, coinciding with the Bicentennial of Mexican Investigaciones y Estudios
Independence (1810) and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution Superiores en Antropología
Social, 2010).
(1910) celebrations. In addition to reprinting hundreds of photographs 
from a variety of national and international archives, the study also looked at 
ten documentaries from the AHSS. In an attempt to present a range of 
different aspects of Mexican public health between 1940 and 1970, 
documentaries on various health campaigns (typhoid fever, smallpox, pinta, 
rabies, etc.) and on nutrition and family planning were used. The 
corresponding rolls of film were cleaned and restored so they could be 
copied onto CDs. This process also brought to light the fact that the 
documentaries had been filmed in color, something that had gone undetected 
during the cataloguing process.
22. Further general information
The second project was the result of the updates made to the website, which about its collections is available at
the Ministry of Health made accessible to the public.22 The site also includes http://
thirteen documentaries selected according to institutional criteria and labeled pliopencms05.salud.gob.mx:8080
/archivo/ahssa/principal
as “antique films,” grouped under the heading “films on health.”23 
23. Available at http://
pliopencms05.salud.gob.mx:808
Both projects have helped to publicize the existence of these films, which, with 0/archivo/ahssa/filmesdelasalud
the passage of time, become an attractive audiovisual primary source for 
historical research. Medical infrastructure, health workers, and Mexican state
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film
10 
development in the 1960s are some other topics represented in these films. 
Their images and representations allow us to recreate certain events, 
landscapes, and scenes connected to public health and its historical 
development. 
Concluding Observations 
Cataloguing an institutional film archive, such as the AHSS, is an opportunity 
to demonstrate and reaffirm that interdisciplinary work involving film archivists 
and historians should be an integral aspect of work with document collections 
in general and with film collections in particular. A combination of expertise in 
different areas is needed: first, the film archivist’s knowledge of the technical 
and production aspects of film and of its origins and state of preservation; 
second, the historian’s study of the context the film was produced in and of the 
historical period it portrays. This latter set of tasks constitutes a historical 
reading of the film, which makes it possible for a film to be used as a source 
for research or as educational material. 
The results of the film cataloguing process discussed here offer a number of 
potential avenues for research and teaching that, while they may not do much 
to directly deepen our understanding of public health, do shed light on topics 
relating to social history, especially if we look at how health workers are 
portrayed, or at how women are depicted in their roles as nurses or social 
workers. The thematic aspects of these films set them apart from the American 
education films that were used from the 1920s to the 1940s, which presented 
an image of Mexico as a country where health conditions were very poor. The 
Mexican films vindicated the work of the health ministry and portrayed the 
nation as having the infrastructure needed to provide adequate care for the 
population. 
Finally, in the case of this archive, the combination of cataloguing work and 
historical study also made a contribution by ensuring that the films will be 
stored in conditions suitable for their preservation, making them available for 
future research, and undertaking dissemination efforts to promote their later 
use. 
List of Figures 
Fig. 1–2. Dirección de Promoción de la Salud México © original copyright holders. 
Fig. 3. RÍO ARRIBA, DVD Cinematografica Ariel S.A. © original copyright holders. 
Fig. 4–5. Dirección de Promoción de la Salud México © original copyright holders. 
Research in Film and History 2 2019 ‣ María Rosa Gudiño ‣ Mexican Public Health History through Film