We spent Saturday afternoon with students participating in Union College's Adirondack Mini-term and had a great time! The program looks at the theme of "a Peopled Wilderness" and allows students to learn about the history, literature, and socio-economics of living in the Adirondacks. Our Archivist/Curator Chessie led them on a tour of downtown Saranac Lake and the Saranac Laboratory Museum while talking about the history of the tuberculosis industry and its effects on the economy and culture of the village. Thanks to the students and professors for being such an enthusiastic, friendly, and engaged group! We're so glad to contribute to your experience in the Adirondacks!

This Museum Monday, we want to share more about our Pandemic Perspectives exhibit! Visitors can examine 12 freestanding panels throughout the museum. Each panel has an emotion inspired by the Covid-19 and tuberculosis pandemics, and visitors are encouraged to reflect on how they have experienced these emotions. Have you come in to share about your experience yet?

This Museum Monday, we're sharing another story from our Annual Meeting. This one came from our Oral History Coordinator, Kayt:

"A few months ago I had the opportunity to interview Denny and Erlene Senseney. They came to Saranac Lake to see Will Rogers; Denny’s father, Sam Senseney, had taken the cure at Will Rogers Memorial Hospital. While at Saranac Village at Will Rogers, they happened to hear about the museum and came to pay us a visit. We were lucky to get to talk to them while they were here, and ended up sitting down for a last-minute oral history interview!
While curing Sam learned ceramic and leather work. When he returned home to Kansas, Sam brought these new skills with him. He got a job at a TB Sanatorium teaching patients the ceramic and leatherworking skills he learned here in Saranac Lake!"

You can hear a snippet of Denny and Erlene's interview here.

[Photograph of Sam Senseney, courtesy of Denny Senseney]

It’s Museum Monday, so we want to share the news of an exciting collections donation we received this week! On Thursday, we were honored to receive six boxes of materials from the Baldwin Family. You may recognize the Baldwin name from last week’s Tuberculosis Thursday post about Dr. Edward R. Baldwin, but the collection also contains papers, photographs, journals, correspondence, and more from Mary Ives Baldwin, Ernest H. Baldwin, and Anne Leonard.

As we shared on Thursday, Dr. Baldwin was a close friend and colleague of Dr. E.L. Trudeau, and was the Director of the Saranac Laboratory. Mary Baldwin was the wife of Dr. Baldwin, and was active in local civic and philanthropic organizations, including the Village Improvement Society. Mary was also a talented photographer. Ernest Baldwin was Dr. Baldwin’s brother, and together with his wife, Anne Leonard, founded the Baldwin School in 1907. Ernest was also the first director of the Saranac Lake Free Library in 1907.

The collection was donated by Barbara Baldwin Knapp, Dr. Baldwin’s granddaughter, with assistance and accompaniment by her son and daughter, Gunnar and Tina (pictured in front of the Baldwin House). This donation is a thrilling addition to the collections here at the Saranac Laboratory Museum, and we can’t wait to share the contents (and future additions!) with you as we process them!

We want to share just a few snapshots of items from the collection, starting with photographs of Dr. Baldwin as a scientist, father, and outdoorsman; correspondence from Dr. Baldwin to his son Henry and his membership certificate for the Stevenson Society of America; travel medicine kits (including this one with Dr. Baldwin’s handwritten instructions); photographs and pamphlets from the Baldwin School; a travel diary from Mary Baldwin’s (pictured) trip to Europe in 1924; and photographs of Saranac Lake life (including Winter Carnival scenes) from a scrapbook from the 1910s.

Thank you to the Baldwin Family for their generosity and hard work in preserving (especially Gunnar!) and sharing this fascinating material with us!

To learn more about the Baldwin Family, visit our wiki!