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tuberculosis

Modernist Architecture, Literature, and the Adirondack Cottage Sanatorium

September 12, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 2 Comments

First page of an 1887 BrochureEdward Livingston Trudeau was born in 1848 in New York City to a family of physicians. During his late teens, his elder brother James contracted tuberculosis (TB) and Edward nursed him until his death three months later. At twenty, he enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia College (now Columbia University), completing his medical training in 1871. Two years later, he was diagnosed with TB too.

Following current climate-therapeutic theories that promoted the relocation of patients to regions with atmospheric conditions favorable to recuperation, he moved to the Adirondack Mountains. Seeking as much open air as he possible could, almost continuously living outside, he subsequently regained his health. In 1876 he settled in Saranac Lake and established a small medical practice. It was the beginning of a remarkable career and a new chapter in American medical history. [Read more…] about Modernist Architecture, Literature, and the Adirondack Cottage Sanatorium

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Architecture, Cultural History, Housing, Literature, Medical History, modernism, Saranac Lake, tuberculosis

Sampson State Park’s Remarkable Military, Education & Public Health History

July 11, 2021 by Bill Orzell 1 Comment

Sampson Boot sculpture by Felix W. de WeldonThe site of the present Sampson State Park in Romulus, Seneca County, NY was formerly the site of the Sampson Navy Base. As the United States found itself at war following the attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941, the U.S. Navy had an immediate need for sailors. Basic training bases, or boot camps, were constructed across the country to meet this emergency requirement. [Read more…] about Sampson State Park’s Remarkable Military, Education & Public Health History

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Air Force History, Aviation History, Finger Lakes, Korean War, Maritime History, Military History, Naval History, Navy, Nelson Rockefeller, Sampson State Park, sculpture, Seneca County, State Parks, tuberculosis, World War Two

Loneliness: Winter At Saratoga County’s Tuberculosis Sanatorium

February 5, 2021 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Snowshoeing at the HomesteadLiving at “Homestead,” Saratoga County’s Tuberculosis Sanatorium, was never easy – especially in winter.

In December of 1914 the first patients were admitted to the newly built facility. The site, located on land in the Town of Providence donated by Horace Carpentier years before, was in an extremely rural part of the county. There was no public transportation and the access road was impassable during winter. [Read more…] about Loneliness: Winter At Saratoga County’s Tuberculosis Sanatorium

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Saratoga, Saratoga County, tuberculosis

Grant Cottage Named National Historic Landmark

January 24, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Grant Cottage State Historic Site, a 19th century residence where U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant completed his memoirs shortly before his death, has been named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. [Read more…] about Grant Cottage Named National Historic Landmark

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Grant Cottage, National Historic Landmark, National Park Service, Saratoga County, tuberculosis

Doctors in the Garden of Science

August 26, 2020 by Amy Catania Leave a Comment

Doctors in Saranac Lake, Courtesy of Jan Dudones.In a time when compassion and logic often seem in short supply, many of us have a newfound appreciation for doctors and scientists.

Saranac Lake, NY’s history is full of professionals in medicine and science who had a passion for learning and an intense curiosity about the natural world. [Read more…] about Doctors in the Garden of Science

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Historic Saranac Lake, Medical History, Saranac Lake, tuberculosis

Sad Side of TB Treatment History Has Echoes Today

August 17, 2020 by Amy Catania 1 Comment

John Patrick Kenney letter to his wife, August 1, 1930. Courtesy of Sue Kenney.During the era of TB in New York State the fresh air cure wasn’t all a bed of roses.

First-hand accounts left behind in letters, photographs, diaries, and memoirs paint a picture of life in Saranac Lake during the TB years. It’s an incomplete record that can lead us to believe curing was an overwhelmingly positive experience. It takes energy, time, and a degree of mental and physical well being to leave behind a personal record. People who were very ill, illiterate, or struggling with poverty did not have the same opportunity to create, or later preserve, accounts of their experiences. [Read more…] about Sad Side of TB Treatment History Has Echoes Today

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Historic Saranac Lake, Public Health, Saranac Lake, tuberculosis

Fresh Air Schools: Teaching Outdoors For Public Health

August 10, 2020 by Amy Catania Leave a Comment

bassistsAs autumn approaches, schools are thinking about ways to keep students safe by maximizing time outdoors. The concept of outside instruction is not new.

Leading up to the Second World War, open air schools were built in the United States and Europe to protect children from tuberculosis.

In Saranac Lake, in the heart of the Adirondacks, where temperatures in the winter tend to stay well below freezing, some children attended unheated, open air classrooms. [Read more…] about Fresh Air Schools: Teaching Outdoors For Public Health

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History Tagged With: Education, Historic Saranac Lake, Performing Arts, Public Health, Saranac Lake, tuberculosis

A History of TB Treatment at Saranac Lake

July 31, 2020 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, Amy Catania of Historic Saranac Lake explains how that upstate New York community became a center for the treatment of tuberculosis. [Read more…] about A History of TB Treatment at Saranac Lake

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Historic Saranac Lake, Podcasts, Public Health, Saranac Lake, tuberculosis

Cure Porch Cousining: Love In A Time of TB

July 7, 2020 by Amy Catania 1 Comment

Mary Welday and Duke Huntington, cousining in Saranac Lake. courtesy of Priscilla Goss“The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.” — W. Somerset Maugham.

Before antibiotics, one of the more powerful medicines against tuberculosis was love. Happy patients tended to be more successful in overcoming the disease, so health care providers took every step to improve patients’ state of mind.

Patients stayed busy with occupational therapy and social activities. In the Adirondacks around Saranac Lake, cure porches were oriented toward the best views to boost patients’ sprits with natural beauty. And then there was cousining — a term for informal romances that developed between patients. [Read more…] about Cure Porch Cousining: Love In A Time of TB

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Historic Saranac Lake, Saranac Lake, Trudeau Sanatorium, tuberculosis

Saranac Lake’s Famous Cure Porches Have Stories To Tell

June 13, 2020 by Amy Catania 2 Comments

245 Lake Flower AvenueLong after people die, the buildings where they made their lives often remain. Many visitors to the Saranac Laboratory Museum follow the footsteps of a family member who came to Saranac Lake with tuberculosis.

Often the only trace that remains is the address of a cure cottage and a porch where their relative once took the fresh air. [Read more…] about Saranac Lake’s Famous Cure Porches Have Stories To Tell

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Architectural Heritage, Architecture, Historic Preservation, Historic Saranac Lake, Saranac Lake, tuberculosis

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