How do people carry on with life during pandemics?

Summary: In this lesson, your students will look at two images from the tuberculosis pandemic to investigate how people carried on with life during historic pandemics.

Start by presenting a summary of the introduction to your students, then follow the lesson instructions below.

Introduction

What is a pandemic?

It’s likely that your life recently changed due to something silent and invisible–a pandemic. A pandemic is a disease that does not impact just one area but spreads across the whole world. Did you have to stay home from school? Stand six feet away from your friends? Wear a mask in a store? This is because of the pandemic.

The coronavirus is a virus, or a germ that can make you sick. Some viruses have treatments that stop them from hurting people. Others don’t yet. Some viruses without treatment spread so quickly that they become pandemics.

Mainers have faced pandemics before. Pandemics come in different shapes and sizes depending on the type of virus. Sometimes, older people are most at risk. Sometimes it’s more dangerous for children. Different pandemics effect people in different ways, like coughing, fever, and difficulty walking. Pandemics are dangerous because they cause many deaths in a short period of time. They stop either naturally or when people find a cure.

Vocabulary below for teacher use.

Vocabulary:

• Pandemic: A disease that does not impact just one area, but spreads across the whole world.
• Virus: A germ that can get inside your body and make you sick.
• Sanatorium: A treatment facility for tuberculosis patients.

Distribute primary source images and have your students look at them before you read aloud about the tuberculosis pandemic.

Tuberculosis

The global tuberculosis (TB) pandemic occurred during the 1800s and 1900s. TB was very dangerous and led to many deaths. Most people with TB had problems with their lungs and with breathing.

TB broke out in Maine in the first half of the 1900s. Patients were treated away from their homes in places called “sanatoriums.” Sanatoriums were built in areas with lots of open space and fresh air, away from cities. Sanatoriums were also far away from other people so that patients didn’t get their friends and families sick. Some people could not afford to pay for their treatment, so the State of Maine built sanatoriums that were affordable. Western Maine Sanatorium was in Hebron, Maine, and was one of the state-run sanatoriums.

Tuberculosis patients moved into sanatoriums for sometimes long periods of time. These patients were given special diets and lots of fresh air as treatment. While they were there, separate from their families, they continued with their daily lives.

What can you learn from these sources about daily life in pandemics?

The Lesson:

1. Students choose one or more of the primary sources and complete an Analysis Worksheet for each one, using only information from the source itself. If they are not ready for analysis and writing, this can be completed as a class or small group.
2. Discuss the sources as a class. What did you learn from them? What questions do you have?How do the sources connect to the theme?
3. Present source label information to the students. Were you surprised by what you learned?
4. Optional: use the recommended activity prompts and reflection questions for further discussion.

Optional Activity

Either imagine or actually make a time capsule for your life during the coronavirus pandemic. What would you include and why? Share with your classmates or family.

Reflection questions:

• How is life during the coronavirus pandemic similar to life during the tuberculosis pandemic? How is it different?
• How do pandemics change our daily routines?
• How do young people deal with pandemics?

Pandemic Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine Historical Society, Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.