pages 144, 155
ca. 1842 – 1843
Maine State Library
The town of Orrington’s records show how the local government tried different things to stop smallpox from spreading in their town. The town destroyed people’s things in the name of public health. They helped pay to care for people who got sick, and also paid for large groups of people to get the smallpox vaccine.
Smallpox can be spread through items like bedding and clothing that are touched by a sick person. It was more often spread between two people, but the government tried to limit the illness’s spread through contact with objects. The town of Orrington paid people when their things were burned. This helped them buy new things. It also might have made people more likely to be more careful.
Source 2 - Image
Source 2 - Image
Central Maine Sanatorium — Women’s Ward
From Reports of the Maine State Sanitoriums 1915-1916
ca. 1916
Maine State Library
The Central Maine Sanatorium was one of three tuberculosis treatment centers run by the Maine government. At the time, many people that got sick would go to sanatoriums. It was very normal for people to live away from their homes until they recovered so that they didn’t get anyone else sick. This was seen as people’s “civic duty,” or responsibility to their community.
Sometimes, however, people left sanatoriums before they were better. In one year (1915 – 1916), 48 people left even when their doctors said they should not. This was because of a few reasons. Some people wanted more freedom. Some people couldn’t afford to stay longer. Some people missed their families.
Source 3 - Artifact
Source 3 - Artifact
Smallpox Vaccine
1949
Maine State Museum 72.217.40
This is a vial of the smallpox vaccine. The liquid vaccine is held in a bulb inside this tube—there is a glass container for protection. This vaccine was designed to be injected into a human so they could develop an immunity to smallpox.
This vial is part of the Maine State Museum’s collection. It has been sent to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a national public health institute) so that it could be gamma irradiated. It is not radioactive now, but it was exposed to radiation so that any surviving smallpox inside would be killed.
This is an important step in safely preserving objects like this for future study. Enough people around the world received vaccines like the one you see here, and smallpox is now eradicated (it has disappeared from the world).
Pandemic Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine Historical Society, Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.
