Embedded Files
Polio or, as it was known between the 1890s and 1930s, infantile paralysis, was a serious health concern for people around the world during the twentieth century, as a successful vaccine would not be available until 1954.[i] By mid-century, researchers found that three types of poliovirus exist, which are spread by ingestion of water or food contaminated by fecal matter, or by sneezing and coughing, but very little was known about the disease by the early twentieth century.[ii] In fact, when a bulletin was published on infantile paralysis in 1911 by the Idaho State Board of Health, one of the central points emphasized was that “experimental researchers within the last year have demonstrated beyond doubt that the disease is infectious and communicable.”[iii] As unnerving as it is to consider the fact that – though cases of infantile paralysis were first identified in 1881[iv] – it was not until 1911 that public health officials in Idaho could say “beyond doubt” that polio was a contagious illness, it should be noted that polio also subverted common beliefs about how best to prevent infection. Though urban Americans and immigrants were viewed as living in substandard conditions, affluent Americans often in suburban communities increasingly suffered from polio at rates higher than those of urban dwellers.[v]
Notice of Idaho public health rules relating to reporting requirements for certain diseases, including infantile paralysis, located in the Blackfoot Optimist, December 28, 1911.[vi]
An advertisement placed by the Rexall Store in the Kendrick Gazette, June 22, 1917, calling on readers to purchase products aimed at catching or killing house flies as a means of preventing the contraction of infantile paralysis.[xiii]
Notwithstanding this general lack of knowledge regarding polio between the 1890s and 1930s, it was during these years that many significant advances in our understanding of the disease, as well as in our methods of treating it, came about. Headlines in Pocatello on July 15, 1916, for example, proclaimed “Paralysis Germ Is Isolated,” marking reports that a New York doctor could now create cultures of the virus. This achievement came as hundreds of New Yorkers had already succumbed to the disease that summer.[vii] Equally significant was the invention of the iron lung at Harvard Medical School in 1929, which reduced mortality rates of victims of “bulbar polio,” a strain of poliovirus that paralyzed the respiratory muscles.[viii] A story run by the Pocatello Tribune on October 25, 1939, indicates that a 24-year-old resident of King Hill died just two hours prior to the arrival of an iron lung from Salt Lake City, a resource her physicians believed would have saved her life.[ix]
Alongside these advances in medical technology and technique came also commercial campaigns capitalizing on public fears of infantile paralysis to market products represented as important means of preventing the disease. Exploiting a common theory at the time that flies spread the virus, one such advertisement in the Kendrick Gazette on June 22, 1917, admonished readers to “follow up your fight against flies as a precaution against infantile paralysis,” with a listing of products aimed at trapping or killing house flies.[x] Similarly, an advertisement taken out by the Nibley Channel Lumber Company in the American Falls Press on May 16, 1919, offers screen doors as another defense against infantile paralysis, stating that “the FLY is the most dangerous ‘Animal’ on Earth. Wherever he crawls he leaves ‘The Seeds of Death.’”[xi]
In short, the 1890s through the 1930s represent a time of considerable fear and limited knowledge of polio. These fears had negative consequences, but also prompted advances achieved through public unity against polio and sacrifices made through fundraising and voluntary medical testing or specimen donation. Beginning in the 1930s, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis “revolutionized the way charities raised money, recruited volunteers, and penetrated the mysterious world of medical research.”[xiv] The celebration of President Roosevelt’s birthday became an annual event of fundraising for polio research.[xv] Moving into the 1940s and 1950s, these sacrifices would pave the way for a successful vaccine.
Corbin L. LeBaron, June 20, 2021
An advertisement placed by the Nibley Channel Lumber Company in the American Falls Press, May 16, 1919, calling on readers to purchase screen doors to keep house flies from entering their homes as a means of preventing the contraction of infantile paralysis.[xii]
An image published in the Oakley Herald, October 20, 1916, promoting the donation of blood as a means of combatting infantile paralysis [xvi]
A portion of an advertisement placed by Schramm-Johnson’s Drug Store in the Pocatello Tribune, January 24, 1935, informing readers that every purchase of this brand of ice cream would go towards the annual birthday ball for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a polio survivor, benefiting polio research.[xvii]
Footnotes
Footnotes
[i] David Oshinsky, “Miracle Workers,” American Heritage 59, no. 4 (Winter 2010): 2-4.
[ii] Todd S. Harwell, et al., “‘The Biggest Public Health Experiment Ever’: The Polio Pioneers and Montana’s Contribution to the Elimination of Polio in the United States,” Montana Magazine of Western History 69, no. 3 (Autumn 2019): 48-49.
[iii] Idaho State Board of Health, “Infantile Paralysis: Anterior Poliomyelitis” (Boise: Idaho State Board of Health, circa 1911), 7.
[iv] Isaac Goldston, “How’s Your Health: Infantile Paralysis,” Pocatello Tribune, March 4, 1930, accessed June 18, 2021, http://marshallidaho.advantage-preservation.com.
[v] Karen L. Wellner, “Polio and Historical Inquiry,” OAH Magazine of History, September 2005, 54.
[vi] W.E. Patrie, “Rules and Regulations of Board of Health,” Blackfoot Optimist, December 28, 1911, accessed June 20, 2021, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
[vii] “Paralysis Germ Is Isolated,” Semi-Weekly Pocatello Tribune, June 15, 1916, accessed June 18, 2021, http://marshallidaho.advantage-preservation.com.
[viii] Volney Steele, “Fear in the Time of Infantile Paralysis: The Montana Experience,” Montana Magazine of Western History 55, no. 2 (Summer 2005), accessed June 18, 2021, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4520695.
[ix] “Idaho Woman Succumbs of Paralysis,” Pocatello Tribune, October 25, 1939, accessed June 18, 2021, http://marshallidaho.advantage-preservation.com.
[x] Rexall Store, “Follow up Your Fight against Flies as a Precaution against Infantile Paralysis” (advertisement), Kendrick Gazette, June 22, 1917, accessed June 18, 2021, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov; Corner Drug & Jewelry Store, “Follow up Your Fight against Flies as a Precaution against Infantile Paralysis” (advertisement), Moscow Star-Mirror, August 9, 1921, accessed June 18, 2021, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
[xi] Nibley Channel Lumber Company, “Screen Doors and Flies” (advertisement), American Falls Press, May 16, 1919, accessed June 18, 2021, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
[xii] Ibid.
[xiii] Rexall Store.
[xiv] Oshinsky, 3.
[xv] Harwell, 52-53; “Idaho Prepares for Birthday Ball of President,” Pocatello Tribune, December 7, 1937; “Nation Joins Roosevelt on Birthday,” Pocatello Tribune, January 30, 1939.
[xvi] "Giving Blood to Save Children" (advertisement), Oakley Herald, October 20, 1916, accessed June 20, 2021, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
[xvii] Schramm-Johnson’s Drug Store, “Schramm-Johnson’s Will Donate...,” (advertisement, Pocatello Tribune, January 24, 1935), accessed June 18, 2021, http://marshallidaho.advantage-preservation.com.
Page updated
Report abuse