The 3 April 2016 edition of the Star Tribune carried a Minnesota History article written by Curt Brown and entitled "Consumed by the sanatoriums' story." A great story and a clever play on words since the subject was a woman's meticulous research about Minnesota sanitoriums and the care of patients with tuberculosis (also called consumption). I doubt there's a family living in Minnesota in the early 20th century which wasn't touched in some way by tuberculosis. In June 2014 I wrote about "Tuberculosis in Minnesota." This gives me the chance to correct a piece of bad information in my story. I stated the Glen Lake Sanitorium closed its doors in 1961. According to the recent newspaper article, the Glen Lake facility was still treating tuberculosis patients as late as 1976! (Even more surprising, 150 cases of tuberculosis were reported last year in Minnesota!)

The heart of Sunday's newspaper story was Mary Krugerod's work in preserving the history of Minnesota's sanitoriums. Starting in the 1980s she was employed in the medical library of the Oak Terrace nursing home, located on the campus of the old Glen Lake Sanitorium in Minnetonka. When the state announced plans to close the facility in 1991, Krugerod and others started videotaping former patients and staff who related stories about treatment during the tuberculosis era. This led to her "obsession" with the subject. She was able to salvage Human Services records and ultimately created a website with histories of all 19 tuberculosis sanatoriums in Minnesota.

Read about Minnesota's TB sanitoriums at:  www.mnsans.com/. The full Star Tribune article can be viewed here: www.startribune.com/she-s-consumed-by-the-story-of-the-state-s-sanatoriums/374376771/.