2021-02-03 Alyssa Scott - Archaeology at the Weimar Joint Sanatorium for Tuberculosis
Channel: Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley
Date: 2021-02-03

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Archaeology at the Weimar Joint Sanatorium for Tuberculosis (Alyssa Scott, PhD candidate, Dept. of Anthropology, UC Berkeley)

Abstract: The Weimar Joint Sanatorium was opened in 1919 to treat tuberculosis patients from eleven counties in California. Although the tuberculosis epidemic in the US has largely fallen out of memory, tuberculosis was a major epidemic in the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries and continues to be one of the top ten causes of death worldwide. Tuberculosis had a pervasive impact on everyday life and daily practices, and everyday object such as ceramic dishes, pipes, window glass and fences are connected to ideas about health and the body. Pedestrian survey, mapping, and geophysical survey at the site of the Weimar Joint Sanatorium have revealed remnants of daily life at the institution. This presentation examines the dynamic intersection between disease, everyday practices, the creation of norms, and the implications for the social memory and visibility of disease epidemics.