How was tuberculosis treated, if at all, in the 1900s in the rural home?

by viktrya

Hi historians,

I have a tuberculosis question. I know for countless, it was a death sentence.

I'm writing a Southern Gothic illness piece set in 1913 Louisiana, in which a young man (based on a real person whose grave I've always visited) slowly dies in his home during a local consumption outbreak surrounded by his mother and sisters. It ends with, as is historically accurate as per local newspapers, his body wrapped in a sheet in the driveway outside the house to be collected.

  • What sorts of everyday precautions would a family take at this time? What would the everyday have looked like? Were there home remedies?

EDIT: I suppose the question should read "how tuberculosis was managed," as opposed to how it was treated -- as historically, in the case of my main figure, it wasn't.

EdHistory101

Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.

Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.

For more general advice about doing research to inform a creative project, please check out our Monday Methods post on the subject.