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. In this report, “smallpox” is abbreviated as, “small pox,” “Samm Pox,” “S. Pox,” and so on.
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. How might burning have affected people differently based on economic class?
These records also show town payments to regular citizens for care of individuals infected with smallpox.
Source 2 - Document
Source 2 - Document
“An Act to Prevent the Spreading of Smallpox and Other Contagious Sicknesses”
pages 556-558
1821 Public Laws, Chapter 127
ca. 1821
Maine State Archives 1821_PL_c127
The newly formed Maine Legislature (at only one year old!) created a law to try to stop the spread of smallpox and other illnesses.
The act outlines the role of selectmen (local government officials) whose job was to manage local outbreaks of infectious disease. Duties under this overarching goal included quarantining and/or securing medical care for individuals and families.
Additionally, the act provided protections for local residents from outsiders who may have brought illness into Maine. Visitors from high-risk areas could be asked to leave the state, and fined if they disobeyed this request. Anyone who housed these visitors could also be fined.
The act continues to list powers granted to local governments to limit visitors from high-risk areas at ferries and other points of entry at the discretion of local authorities.
Transcription:
Norridgewock Jan’y 28, 1833
To the Committee on Account[?]
in the Legislature of the State
Gentlemen,
At the request of Elisha Hilton, Esq. we have examined his account of services and expenses guarding the Canada Road and find that he is justly entitled to re-ceive from the State $46.46 in addition to the sum allowed by us in the Roll of claims made up last week. We also find that the sum of $10.80 made up in the roll for John Brown has been paid to Brown by Hilton and should be allowed for the benefit of Hilton. The greater part of the above claim is for voluntary services per-formed without any direction from our quarter, but highly beneficial to the State and unless allowed by the State, he is without remedy.
As soon as Hilton rec’d information that the Cholera had broken out in Quebec and that the road to our territory was thronged with Emigrants he took his horse and went through the upper settle-ments on the Chaudiere, turned back sev-enty in one day and posted notices that all foreigners would be stop’d by a guard at the lines, and employed his sons J. Brown a hired man to keep guard till a regular guard arrived: That he engaged in the guard himself, two sons and hired man on the 3rd of July and served twenty seven days which was made upon the Roll. That he has furnished food to hundreds of suffering emigrants probably to the amount of stores left with him; and was at some expense for the good of the public after the guard was discharged
From all the evidence and the facts in this case we think his claim just and reasonable to the above amount.
We are Gentlemen respectfully
Your humble servant
Wm Allen Jr. – member of a Committee of Selectmen of several Towns appointed to [?] claims
Source 3 - Document
Source 3 - Document
Petition for reimbursement for expenses in stopping the influx of immigrants from Quebec
ca. January 28, 1833
Maine State Archives 207420
This letter, written from a local selectman to the Maine State Legislature, shows the local impact of the Legislature’s 1821 act (Source 2). It describes a man who decided to stop a group of people moving into Maine from Quebec. The letter, or petition, is asking the State to pay the man as thanks for his time and help, as well as to make up for the money he spent.
The anti-immigrant sentiment towards Quebec was likely a result of the 1832 cholera epidemic of Lower Canada. In June 1832, a ship from Ireland docked in Quebec with a few sick immigrants. Soon, a cholera epidemic had begun in the area, with its first death only three days after the ship’s arrival. By the end of 1832, over 4,500 people had died from cholera in Lower Canada.
This is likely why a local citizen was concerned about the influx of immigrants from Quebec. Under the 1821 act, individuals were authorized to take action on behalf of the state government to stop people from entering the state who might bring sickness. Then, they could petition the state for financial reimbursement for their services to the public good.
Source 4 - Image
Source 4 - Image
Central Maine Sanatorium — Women’s Ward
From Reports of the Maine State Sanitoriums 1915-1916
ca. 1916
Maine State Library
This photograph shows the women’s ward of the Central Maine Sanatorium in 1915 or 1916. This was one of three state-operated tuberculosis treatment facilities in Maine. It was located in Fairfield, Maine, and was designated for the sickest patients (while more healthy patients went to the Western or Northern Maine Sanatoriums).
Today, state-run facilities like this are uncommon in the United States. Most patients are treated in hospitals. While they existed, sanatoriums like this had an impact on how people thought about their civic duty during pandemics.
With spaces like sanatoriums where sick patients could isolate from anyone that was healthy, we know that people realized it was an important way to keep other people from getting sick. There was a culture of quarantine. Today, it has become less common to have spaces that are built just for the purpose of isolation and quarantine.
Source 5 - Document
Source 5 - Document
Maine State Sanitorium Reports 1915-1916
page 38
ca. 1916
Maine State Library
The Maine State Sanitorium (later renamed the Western Maine Sanitorium) in Hebron was taken over by the state government in 1915. These detailed records of the innermost workings of the treatment center between 1915 and 1916 tracked every aspect of the patient experience, including what patients ate, what treatment they received, their identities, and why they were discharged.
In this year, 103 patients left the facility, 48 of them against medical advice. That means that almost half of the patients that stopped treatment did so against their doctor’s orders.
Sanatoriums had strict routines and rules which may have contributed to people leaving. The transition from living in your own home to living in a strictly controlled environment may have been difficult for some. Others may not have been able to financially support their families while they were at the sanatorium, so they left even though they were still sick.
Source 6 - Artifact
Source 6 - 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.
