This week’s Tuberculosis Thursday feature are the murals of Dr. Norman Bethune. Dr. Bethune created the works while curing at Trudeau Sanatorium in the mid-1920s; they depict the journey to defeat tuberculosis. A portion of the murals is pictured here. The murals were five by sixty feet long, and drawn on brown paper mounted on the walls of his cure cottage. The black area is where a doorway interrupted the work.

The Monsters are labeled Scaley Scarlatina, Diphtheria, Infantile Paralysis, Rheumatic Fever, Whooping Cough, Measles, and the numerous "TB Bats". Sir Shick is named for American pediatrician Bela Shick, who developed a test for Diptheria. The caption reads "Scene II, Childhood. From Dragon Diph. Sir Shick defends, From other beasts he cannot save, The wounds and scars of their attacks, He'll carry to his grave."

Unfortunately, the murals have been lost throughout the years and only photographs remain. To learn more about the fascinating life of Dr. Bethune, head to our wiki.

Or, check out the book “the Bethune Murals” by Tony Holtzman, which was inspired by the hunt for the missing murals.

It's Halloween week, so here's even more inspiration from history! This photograph shows patients at Trudeau Sanatorium dressed up for Halloween in 1936 in the auditorium building. Patients enjoyed dressing up for holidays all year long, and also put on costumed plays and skits. Ed Worthington is seated in the second row center with a cowboy hat on.

[Historic Saranac Lake Collection, TCR 727. Courtesy of Janet Dudones.]

Halloween is less than three weeks away, so we're thinking about historic costume inspiration! This photograph shows Alice Delisle, who won the fancy dress contest at one of the first Winter Carnivals in 1898. Her image was printed in a 1909 commemorative Winter Carnival program. What figure from Saranac Lake history would you like to dress up as?


[Historic Saranac Lake Collection, TCR 280. Courtesy of Hope Coons.]