How do people carry on with life during a pandemic?

This is a photo of four patients at the Western Maine Sanatorium in Hebron identified as, front, from left, Carron and “His Nibs” (Merle Wadleigh) and rear, Gill and Lehman (Arthur Lehman). Merle Wadleigh of Portland kept the album while he was a patient at the tuberculosis sanatorium. He labeled the photo “The Four Horsemen or Four Aces.” He wrote on the back, “July 1928, The four horsemen, This was taken when I was in Reception. I weighed 140. This is the one that I sent you a piece of before.”

The Western Maine Sanatorium was a tuberculosis treatment facility that opened in 1904 as a private sanatorium and was purchased by the state in 1915. Tuberculosis is a disease caused by a bacteria that usually attacks the lungs, but that can also damage other parts of the body.

By the beginning of the 19th century, tuberculosis— also referred to as “consumption”— had killed one in seven of all people that had ever lived, but by the first half of the 20th century it was a disease that could be controlled and cured thanks to development of streptomycin and other antibiotics. Sanatoriums were designed to both help contain the spread of tuberculosis by segregating those who were infected and to treat (and possibly even cure) patients.

“The four horsemen” is a reference to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, figures in the New Testament of the Bible. The four horse riders represent pestilence (disease), war, famine, and death. This was probably a morbid inside joke between friends.

This is a photo of a July 4 parade with elaborate floats and a variety of costumed participants that was a tradition at the Western Maine Sanatorium at Hebron. Patients who were well enough could participate in the parade and games and other events that followed. Others watched from the sleeping porches at their cottages. Note the masks on the faces of the people in the parade! Why do you think they are wearing them?

The Western Maine Sanatorium was a tuberculosis treatment facility that opened in 1904 as a private sanatorium and was purchased by the state in 1915. It was one of three state-operated tuberculosis facilities. Sanatoriums were designed to both help contain the spread of tuberculosis and to treat (and possibly even cure) patients.

Tuberculosis is a disease caused by a bacteria that usually attacks the lungs, but that can also damage other parts of the body. By the beginning of the 19th century, tuberculosis— also referred to as “consumption”— had killed one in seven of all people that had ever lived, but by the first half of the 20th century it was a disease that could be controlled and cured thanks to medical developments.

This image from the Kennebec Journal shows a group of female students at Cony High School in Augusta, Maine. The students are supporting an annual Christmas Seal sale benefitting tuberculosis patients. The women wore caps with a double-barred cross symbol which was the international symbol of the fight against TB.

The first American Christmas Seals were sold by a woman named Emily Bissell in 1907 for a penny each. Seals were special holiday labels put on mail to raise money for tuberculosis sanatoriums and other charitable causes. Christmas Seals are still sold today by the American Lung Association and other charitable groups.

This is a letter Sumner Cobb wrote to his family in Maine. He wrote from Camp Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky in 1918. Sumner was born in Gorham, Maine in 1895 and was around 22-23 years old when he wrote this letter.

Sumner was one of three brothers who all served in World War I. His brothers were William and Herbert. Both William and Herbert fought in the war outside of the United States while Sumner remained in America. Sumner was stationed at two military bases during his time in the army: Camp Devens in Massachusetts and Camp Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.

Sumner didn’t face dangers of overseas fighting and life in the trenches. However, he was at risk of contracting the Spanish Flu. It was spreading throughout the United States at the end of the war. The disease spread quickly in military camps where soldiers lived close together. He wrote about it a lot in his letters home between September and October 1918.

By the sound of the letters, Sumner did not become sick with the flu during his time in the army. Sumner and William both survived the war, but Herbert was killed on October 14, 1918 just one month before the end of the war on November 11.

This page shows the full menu for June 11-15, 1916. This menu was used in one of Maine’s state-run sanatoriums. People who were sick with tuberculosis lived and received treatment in these facilities for days, months, or years.

Treatments included some things that both sick and healthy people benefit from, such as exercise and healthy food. The meals in these sanatoriums were carefully planned to try to give patients the nutrients and calories they needed to help their bodies deal with disease.