Researching Epidemics in the Rubenstein Library: Tuberculosis

Medical text by prominent physician and ethnographer Samuel Morton. The book provides an overview of the causes and symptoms of tuberculosis as understood at the time along with colored illustrations showing the disease's effect on the lung.

Guide for the treatment of tuberculosis using the "movement cure" (with illustrations of exercises) and also mentions other potential remedies of the time such as bathing and sunshine.

Book providing statistical information on the prevalence of tuberculosis in the U.S. Includes detailed information on death rates from tuberculosis by region, gender, race, and ethnicity.

A personal narrative, written originally to appear in a newspaper, describing a man's life with tuberculosis and the many treatments he tried over the years.

Pamphlet distributed by the Board of Health in N.C. to educate communities in the state about tuberculosis prevention measures.

Report chronicling the work of Massachusetts state agencies to prevent the spread of tuberculosis and reports on tuberculosis in various places in the state. Includes images of sanitariums and data on the disease's spread.

Taking an ethnological approach, this book, published in Asheville, N.C., focuses on tuberculosis in African-Americans.

Set of ten illustrated posters created in Germany after World War I to educate the German public about the threat of tuberculosis and treatment options.

An illustrated souvenir book published to celebrate the Trudeau Sanatorium, a pioneering tuberculosis treatment center, founded by Dr. Edward Trudeau, in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Fundraising campaign brochure and poster promoting anti-tuberculosis efforts in the Philippines. Includes data and photographs from the Santol Tuberculosis Sanatorium.

Illustrated book published by the National Tuberculosis Foundation to educate children about tuberculosis. The story follows a tiny tubercle bacillus named Huber and his friends as they embark on the invasion of Lungland.

This site, from the National Museum of American History, provides digital versions of documents and artifacts related to the fight against tuberculosis. This includes items like sputum cups, campaign posters, and tuberculosis treatments.

A digital collection of public health posters from the National Library of Medicine including posters related to the prevention of tuberculosis in the 20th century.

Official YouTube channel of the National Library of Medicine featuring a number of videos produced in the mid-20th century to educate the public about tuberculosis.

George M. Brown was doctor and farmer in Cumberland County, Virginia. His papers include letters concerning the treatment of tuberculosis in the 1860s and 1870s.

John Ridlon was a physician specializing in orthopedic medicine and, in particular, Pott's Disease (tuberculosis of the spine) and the tubercular infection of the joints. Collection includes Ridlon's patient case files and his correspondence with other prominent physicians of the time.

Dorothy Whitlock was an occupational therapist and medical illustrator with an interested in tuberculosis. Her papers contain Whitlock's notes on tuberculosis treatment as well as notes and papers from the National Tuberculosis Association's conferences in 1948, 1950, 1951, and 1952 in Salt Lake City.

Collection of medical and pharmaceutical advertisements and promotional materials. Includes examples of Christmas stamps, often called Christmas seals, sold to raise money for tuberculosis in the 1950s.

Collection of mid-20th century audio recordings that includes a radio program from the 1950 Christmas Seal campaign. The 15-minute program, "Thunder in the Valley," is a Christmas drama about a doctor needing an x-ray machine to detect tuberculosis in his patients.

Wide-ranging collection of pamphlets from a number of South Asian nations. Collection includes publications from the Tuberculosis Association of India in the 1960s and 1970s.