TB Patient Life
The Margaret Lantis Collection contains several magazines and newsletters published by the Firland Hospital (Seattle, Washington) and the Seward Sanatorium (Seward, Alaska).
Firland Hospital was built by the Navy during World War II. Lantis describes its nearly 40 buildings with "long parallel wards strung together by what seem like interminable corridors," the uniformed guards at its gates, the high wire fence, and the system for awarding patient passes as "putting off the air of officialdom." With its 700 patients and more than 600 employees during her 1956 field work, Firland was a tightly-run, but bustling community.
The hospital had its own theatre, general store, and lunch counter; and a survey of the collection's Firland Magazines provides insight into the physical conditions of sanatorium life, the mid-20th century institution of public health services, and the world of hospitalized TB patients—many of whom spent several years inside the hospital with only occasional outings and family visits. The Firland Magazine was circulated beyond the hospital, and its local business advertising revenue was the major source of funds for patient welfare and recreational programming.
Alaska's Seward Santorium was a smaller, more intimate facility. Its vicinity to home for many of its native Alaskan patients was a comfort not afforded to the patients sent to Washington. The collection’s Seward Sanatorium’s San Chat newsletter, published by the hospital’s Patient Council, affords us a glimpse into the daily lives of its primarily native Alaskan patients; including weekly recreational activities, schooling and vocational rehabilitation programs, and patient responses to hospital services.
The images featured here are Seward Sanatorium San Chat newsletter covers illustrated by native Alaskan hospitalized patients in 1955 and 1956.
