Health
Artist
Designer Unknown
Date1900
MediumStone Lithograph
Dimensions39 x 29 in. (99.1 x 73.7 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.5830
DescriptionThe woman and children in classical dress (suggesting purity), shown in a woodland set against a shadowy cityscape, promote the public-health programs of the period, specifically those designed to reduce child mortality. The acorn border symbolizes fertility and longevity. Industrial expansion and population growth in American cities between 1880 and 1900 vastly increased the number of slum dwellings as well as pollution and sanitation problems. In 1900, 30 percent of all deaths in the United States occurred in children younger than five, mainly due to gastrointestinal conditions and respiratory diseases. While the bacteriological discoveries of the last two decades of the 19th century had revolutionized medical science, they had relatively little impact on medical practice since they remained controversial, and the established drugs, like opium and quinine, had no effect on the course of identified diseases. Toward the end of the century, however, increasing efforts by municipal governments to improve the safety of water and milk in particular, as well as social reform and public-education programs encouraging domestic cleanliness, very gradually began to have a positive impact on child mortality.On View
Not on view
