How do pandemics impact different people in different ways?

George W. Nutt’s letter to the state of Maine stemmed from his job as an “Indian Agent.” Indian Agents were appointed by the state to give out money to tribal communities. The term “Indian” is used to mean Indigenous people, in this case the Passamaquoddy Tribe which is still at Pleasant Point today.

The money that Nutt discusses came from the “Indian Fund.” This fund came from treaty negotiations, land sales, and rents and leases of tribal land and resources—in other words from profits from the resources taken from the “Indians” themselves. Only a limited amount of these profits ever made it to the Tribes, and in this letter, we see Nutt trying to get more money to support healthcare, schools, and agriculture.

Wabanaki people were considered “wards” of the state, meaning the Maine government was responsible (in theory) for their basic needs. Today, Wabanaki peoples govern themselves by Self-Determination. The U.S. Federal government recognizes them as distinct nations.

There is a complicated relationship between Indigenous peoples and the smallpox pandemic. European colonists brought diseases such as smallpox and measles to North and South America, killing 70% or more of the Native population. There is even historical evidence of weaponizing smallpox as a tool of biological warfare. During the initial period of contact, Native populations lacked immunity to foreign diseases and died at higher rates. After that, European and U.S. colonialism created social and economic inequalities that allow diseases to continue to hurt Indigenous communities at a higher rate. In 2020, coronavirus has had a disproportionate effect on Native peoples.

These excerpts come from a booklet that was distributed to tuberculosis (TB) patients while they received treatment. It was made in 1962, which is interesting because Maine’s TB sanatoriums were closing around this time.

Apart from health issues, this booklet talks about money problems that TB patients might face. Middle and lower-class families had a harder time paying for sanatorium treatment. A family might also not be able to survive several months without the sick person’s paycheck.

Not only was that difficult for the family, it also worked against public health goals to isolate sick people and keep them from infecting others. This booklet responds to this issue by talking about how people could get support if they couldn’t pay. Lots of people did end up leaving sanatoriums against their doctor’s orders because they were worried about money.

This booklet was published by the National Tuberculosis Association (now known as the American Lung Association), which was founded in 1904. A symbol on the back of the booklet that looks like a cross with two strikes through it represented the global fight against TB.

The State of Maine took over management of the Maine State Sanitorium (later renamed the Western Maine Sanitorium) in Hebron in 1915. Tuberculosis (TB) patients lived in the sanitorium while getting treatment for the disease.

These are detailed records of the innermost workings of the treatment center between 1915 and 1916. They tracked every aspect of the patient experience, including who they were, what they ate, what treatment they received, and why they were discharged (left the sanitorium).

The state government tried to regulate prices to make treatment more accessible to all Mainers. Just over 25% of patients received entirely free treatment. Most patients paid $5 a week, which in today’s dollars would be about $118. Today a payment method like this might be called “sliding scale.”

Most of the patients at the Sanitorium in these two years were listed with the occupation “Housewife.” This may have been for financial reasons. At the time, it was more likely that husbands would work while wives stayed home. Families still struggled when mothers were in the sanitorium, but if a father took months off work it meant no paycheck.

There were also lots of farmers, mill workers, and students, which reflects what people in Maine were doing in the 1900s.

These supportive devices were made for Alice Ella Damren, a Maine woman with polio who lived from 1924-2010. Alice was born in Mount Vernon, Maine. As far as we know, she was the first baby to contract polio before she was even born.

The crutches were made around 1928 by a person experiencing homelessness. He stopped by Alice’s family farm and the family shared their meals with him. Alice was about three years old. The visitor felt sorry for the little girl who was unable to walk. Once she learned to walk on the crutches he made, “she would really fly,” according to the family. They said that she could whack open the screen door with her crutches and be at the end of the walk before the door banged shut. She climbed trees and developed good upper body strength.

Although she had multiple operations at Shriners Hospital, Alice could never use her leg. Even as an adult she needed to wear a special shoe with a tall sole. She also used a thigh-high leg brace with vinyl padding. The aluminum brace ran up the sides of the leg from the shoe to the thigh, hinged at the knee and ankle to allow bending.