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This week’s Tuberculosis Thursday feature are the murals of Dr. Norman Bethune. Dr. Bethune created the works while curing at Trudeau Sanatorium in the mid-1920s; they depict the journey to defeat tuberculosis. A portion of the murals is pictured here. The murals were five by sixty feet long, and drawn on brown paper mounted on the walls of his cure cottage. The black area is where a doorway interrupted the work.
The Monsters are labeled Scaley Scarlatina, Diphtheria, Infantile Paralysis, Rheumatic Fever, Whooping Cough, Measles, and the numerous "TB Bats". Sir Shick is named for American pediatrician Bela Shick, who developed a test for Diptheria. The caption reads "Scene II, Childhood. From Dragon Diph. Sir Shick defends, From other beasts he cannot save, The wounds and scars of their attacks, He'll carry to his grave." Unfortunately, the murals have been lost throughout the years and only photographs remain. To learn more about the fascinating life of Dr. Bethune, head to our wiki. Or, check out the book “the Bethune Murals” by Tony Holtzman, which was inspired by the hunt for the missing murals. The first snowflakes flew in Saranac Lake today, so we're thinking about winter sports. This photograph shows a group of six men and women seated on a sled. There is a child standing with a smaller sled behind them. Fletcher McCullough Durbin is seated at the left at the end of the sled, and Hazel Durbin is seated third from left with a scarf covering her face. They are preparing to ride the sled run from the side of Baker Mountain down to the ice on Moody Pond. Are you ready for snowy fun?
Learn more about the Durbins on our wiki. [Historic Saranac Lake Collection, 2020.2.53. Courtesy of John Durbin.]
This week's Friday Link is a spooky tale from our Executive Director Amy's "Letters from the Porch" column last fall. Read on our blog if you dare...
It's Halloween week, so here's even more inspiration from history! This photograph shows patients at Trudeau Sanatorium dressed up for Halloween in 1936 in the auditorium building. Patients enjoyed dressing up for holidays all year long, and also put on costumed plays and skits. Ed Worthington is seated in the second row center with a cowboy hat on.
[Historic Saranac Lake Collection, TCR 727. Courtesy of Janet Dudones.] This week's Tuberculosis Thursday feature is the Sageman Cottage. The cottage, located at what is now 63 Park Avenue, has many stories to tell in its history! It is the oldest house in the Cottage Row district, and at one point it was one of seven cottages with a contract with the Veterans Administration to care for tubercular soldiers.
Bela Bartok and his wife Dita stayed on the property in 1943, and it also played host to at least one Norwegian sailor, Alfred Larsen. You can learn more of the Sageman Cottage's history on our wiki. There is just a little more than two weeks till Halloween - did you know that there is a link between tuberculosis and stories of vampires? Read more on the Hektoen International Journal.
...And help support our collections!
A generous local collector, Richard Monroe, donated 25 of these Collins Brothers bottles to be sold to support the preservation and use of Historic Saranac Lake’s collections. Each bottle will be sold for $100, with options for a clear or blue bottle (shipping available). Please note: these bottles are old, and were discovered after spending many years in local lakes and rivers, and therefore may contain small imperfections. The sale will be open to the public on Tuesday, October 19 at 12:00PM (EST). We will send out an email reminder at that time. The sale will be first-come, first serve, so mark your calendars! A link will be shared on our social media, email list, and website at that time. Head to our website to find an excerpt from Richard's article in the Adirondack Almanack about his bottle-diving hobby. Many, many thanks to Richard for his generosity, curiosity, and sense of adventure! Please note: these bottles are identical to ones contained in our permanent collection. If you would like to see these and other items in our collection, please get in touch! All proceeds will be used to house, store, and care for our collections. Questions? Send us an email! ![]() Halloween is less than three weeks away, so we're thinking about historic costume inspiration! This photograph shows Alice Delisle, who won the fancy dress contest at one of the first Winter Carnivals in 1898. Her image was printed in a 1909 commemorative Winter Carnival program. What figure from Saranac Lake history would you like to dress up as? [Historic Saranac Lake Collection, TCR 280. Courtesy of Hope Coons.] |
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