Past pandemics and the history of the Adirondack Chair

[Ken]

The Smithsonian came out with a very interesting history of the invention of the Adirondack Chair. I have 6 of them on my deck and back patio so I obviously like them. But I had no idea they were invented in the early 20th Century as part of efforts to cure tuberculosis

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovati ... 180978322/

THE FEEL-GOOD RECLINER THAT CURES WHAT AILS YOU: The Adirondack chair has gone through countless permutations, but it all started at a time when resting outdoors was thought to be a matter of life or death

“It is a chair rooted in the history of disease,” is how artist and furniture maker Daniel Mack put it in The Adirondack Chair: A Celebration of a Summer Classic, a 2008 tribute to the quintessential piece of porch furniture.

Throughout the 19th century, the bacterial lung disease tuberculosis—known as “consumption” for the way it wasted, or consumed, its victims—had plagued America’s expanding cities. By the time the bacterium causing it was identified in 1882, it was responsible for 1 in 7 deaths worldwide. It was the leading killer in turn-of-the-century New York, where it claimed 9,630 lives in 1900, a rate of 280 per 100,000.

It had already become fashionable for people of means to escape the stifling urbanization by fleeing northward to the mountains, where they could reconnect with nature through hunting, fishing and hiking. This led Marc Cook, a New York City office worker stricken with tuberculosis, to take to the mountains in a last-ditch effort to restore his health. He recovered, and shared his experience in an 1881 book titled The Wilderness Cure.

A key part of that treatment involved prolonged exposure to the region’s cold, dry mountain air. “It’s one of the things you notice when you come to the Adirondacks,” notes Catania. “The air smells better, feels better.”

At first, patients sat outside on collapsible steamer chairs or rockers or pulled two stationary chairs together to get comfortable. “They look kind of cold and miserable,” Catania says, referencing photographs of patients bundled in blankets, their feet resting on wooden armchairs. Around the turn of the century came an improvement: The “cure chair,” a chaise lounge-like recliner modeled on those used in European sanatoriums. With wide armrests, an adjustable back and springs that supported a tufted cushion, “It really gave people a much more comfortable way to lie outside,” Catania says. Production of the chairs ensued, with several area residents receiving patents on their designs. Most adopted the lounger profile, but at least one was designed as a reclining chair.

. . .

Meanwhile, about 40 miles west of Saranac Lake, Boston native Thomas Lee set about making a simple but comfortable chair from which family members could enjoy the view of Lake Champlain from behind the Lee’s summer home in Westport, New York.

According to Elizabeth Lee, Thomas’s great- great-grandniece, “Uncle Tom” spent the years between 1900 and 1903 experimenting with different types of wood and various shapes, sizes and positioning before arriving at an angled chair with a comfort level unmatched by any other.

“There’s no comparison, if they don’t have the right dimensions,” she says, reclining in a replica chair outside Heritage House, a visitor and community center in Westport. “I can sit in one of these chairs for hours. I can sleep in these chairs. All of us want one to have because they’re so comfortable.”

Lee used 11 boards to make a wide chair with a solid-plank back set at a roughly 90-degree angle to its sloping seat. Its 9 ½-inch wide armrests were set high enough to lift the chest when elbows are rested upon them. Whether or not Lee was aware of it, his chair’s board construction reflected the region’s long tradition of simple, practical furniture made by homesteaders and local carpenters.

The design proved popular, and Lee made a number of chairs for family and friends. Then, in 1904, when his hunting pal, Harry C. Bunnell, found himself without a source of winter income, Lee handed over the plans to his chair. And Bunnell, without Lee’s knowledge, received a patent for the design—with a few added features.

[Laurell]

The Smithsonian came out with a very interesting history of the invention of the Adirondack Chair. I have 6 of them on my deck and back patio so I obviously like them. But I had no idea they were invented in the early 20th Century as part of efforts to cure tuberculosis

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovati ... 180978322/

THE FEEL-GOOD RECLINER THAT CURES WHAT AILS YOU: The Adirondack chair has gone through countless permutations, but it all started at a time when resting outdoors was thought to be a matter of life or death

“It is a chair rooted in the history of disease,” is how artist and furniture maker Daniel Mack put it in The Adirondack Chair: A Celebration of a Summer Classic, a 2008 tribute to the quintessential piece of porch furniture.

Throughout the 19th century, the bacterial lung disease tuberculosis—known as “consumption” for the way it wasted, or consumed, its victims—had plagued America’s expanding cities. By the time the bacterium causing it was identified in 1882, it was responsible for 1 in 7 deaths worldwide. It was the leading killer in turn-of-the-century New York, where it claimed 9,630 lives in 1900, a rate of 280 per 100,000.

It had already become fashionable for people of means to escape the stifling urbanization by fleeing northward to the mountains, where they could reconnect with nature through hunting, fishing and hiking. This led Marc Cook, a New York City office worker stricken with tuberculosis, to take to the mountains in a last-ditch effort to restore his health. He recovered, and shared his experience in an 1881 book titled The Wilderness Cure.

A key part of that treatment involved prolonged exposure to the region’s cold, dry mountain air. “It’s one of the things you notice when you come to the Adirondacks,” notes Catania. “The air smells better, feels better.”

At first, patients sat outside on collapsible steamer chairs or rockers or pulled two stationary chairs together to get comfortable. “They look kind of cold and miserable,” Catania says, referencing photographs of patients bundled in blankets, their feet resting on wooden armchairs. Around the turn of the century came an improvement: The “cure chair,” a chaise lounge-like recliner modeled on those used in European sanatoriums. With wide armrests, an adjustable back and springs that supported a tufted cushion, “It really gave people a much more comfortable way to lie outside,” Catania says. Production of the chairs ensued, with several area residents receiving patents on their designs. Most adopted the lounger profile, but at least one was designed as a reclining chair.

. . .

Meanwhile, about 40 miles west of Saranac Lake, Boston native Thomas Lee set about making a simple but comfortable chair from which family members could enjoy the view of Lake Champlain from behind the Lee’s summer home in Westport, New York.

According to Elizabeth Lee, Thomas’s great- great-grandniece, “Uncle Tom” spent the years between 1900 and 1903 experimenting with different types of wood and various shapes, sizes and positioning before arriving at an angled chair with a comfort level unmatched by any other.

“There’s no comparison, if they don’t have the right dimensions,” she says, reclining in a replica chair outside Heritage House, a visitor and community center in Westport. “I can sit in one of these chairs for hours. I can sleep in these chairs. All of us want one to have because they’re so comfortable.”

Lee used 11 boards to make a wide chair with a solid-plank back set at a roughly 90-degree angle to its sloping seat. Its 9 ½-inch wide armrests were set high enough to lift the chest when elbows are rested upon them. Whether or not Lee was aware of it, his chair’s board construction reflected the region’s long tradition of simple, practical furniture made by homesteaders and local carpenters.

The design proved popular, and Lee made a number of chairs for family and friends. Then, in 1904, when his hunting pal, Harry C. Bunnell, found himself without a source of winter income, Lee handed over the plans to his chair. And Bunnell, without Lee’s knowledge, received a patent for the design—with a few added features.

There is one major downside to the chair that isn't mentioned: impossible to get out of when 9 months pregnant.

Source: Have Adirondack chairs. Have been very pregnant.

[Grace]

There is one major downside to the chair that isn't mentioned: impossible to get out of when 9 months pregnant.

Source: Have Adirondack chairs. Have been very pregnant.

If the Adirondack chair is the only thing that created a problem when 9 months pregnant, count yourself lucky.

[Laurell]

There is one major downside to the chair that isn't mentioned: impossible to get out of when 9 months pregnant.

Source: Have Adirondack chairs. Have been very pregnant.

If the Adirondack chair is the only thing that created a problem when 9 months pregnant, count yourself lucky.

If only... went 2 weeks over with my youngest... pretty much everything created a problem by that point

[Josh]

I should point out that TB is not a "past pandemic"; it continues to be a basically incurable disease and is a serious threat to health globally. It is of particular concern when people migrate from the third world where it is endemic to the first world where it is mostly eradicated; allowing lots of third world migrants in without screening for disease is asking for tuberculosis to spread, which already keeps happening in pockets in places like L.A.; there was an outbreak in San Diego when I lived there so all of us employees at a university had to go get screened for it.

[Ken]

I should point out that TB is not a "past pandemic"; it continues to be a basically incurable disease and is a serious threat to health globally. It is of particular concern when people migrate from the third world where it is endemic to the first world where it is mostly eradicated; allowing lots of third world migrants in without screening for disease is asking for tuberculosis to spread, which already keeps happening in pockets in places like L.A.; there was an outbreak in San Diego when I lived there so all of us employees at a university had to go get screened for it.

All immigrants and refugees seeking entrance into the US are screened for TB: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases ... rival.html

Of course not everyone enters through official channels.

Yes, there are lot of diseases like TB or even polio that have not been completely eradicated. But they are no longer considered pandemics.

[Josh]

All immigrants and refugees seeking entrance into the US are screened for TB: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases ... rival.html

Wrong. The current tidal wave of illegal immigrants come across the border illegally, bypassing all health checks.

Of course not everyone enters through official channels.

Most "migrants" to America sneak across the border illegally. So official channels are irrelevant.

Yes, there are lot of diseases like TB or even polio that have not been completely eradicated. But they are no longer considered pandemics.

25% of human beings alive today have TB. That's a lot more than COVID. I'm not sure how you can claim this isn't a "pandemic". It is a serious, major health risk.

[Ken]

25% of human beings alive today have TB. That's a lot more than COVID. I'm not sure how you can claim this isn't a "pandemic". It is a serious, major health risk.

I don’t make the rules. WHO has designated it as an epidemic, not a pandemic. Maybe it should be designated as a pandemic. Here is one article which makes that argument:

https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/20 ... -pandemic/

In the Time of COVID-19: Why Have We Not Declared a Tuberculosis Pandemic?

While global attention is focused on COVID-19, tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease. There should be a more concerted effort to end it.

[Josh]

While global attention is focused on COVID-19, tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease. There should be a more concerted effort to end it.

Hmm!