The Silver City Museum invites you to a presentation and book signing for "Sanatoriums of New Mexico" by Richard Melzer. The signing will take place on Sunday, August 24, 2014 from 2 pm to 3 pm at the museum, located at 312 West Broadway in downtown Silver City. The book will be available for sale.

Tuberculosis, also known as consumption, the White Plague, or simply TB, was the number-one killer in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many physicians of the era advised their patients to chase the cure for tuberculosis in the Southwest, where the regions clean, dry, fresh air, high altitude, and sunshine offered relief for most and recovery for some. New Mexico, called the well country, was particularly eager to promote itself as a mecca for lungers with the coming of the railroad to the territory in 1880 and the creation of many new hospitals, known as sanitariums or sanatoriums (sans), which specialized in the treatment of TB. This is a brief history of New Mexicos sans, their patients, and the doctors, nurses, and staff who served them during the golden age of the TB industry, from the turn of the 20th century to the eve of World War II.

Richard Anthony Melzer is a professor of history at the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus. He is a former president of the Historical Society of New Mexico and is the author of many books and articles on twentieth-century New Mexico history.

Funding in part for these programs and exhibits is made possible thanks to the members and volunteers of the Silver City Museum Society.

The Silver City Museum creates opportunities for residents and visitors to explore, understand and celebrate the rich and diverse cultural heritage of southwestern New Mexico by collecting, preserving, researching and interpreting the region's unique history. For more information, please contact the museum at (575) 538-5921 or info@silvercitymuseum.org, or go to the museum's website www.silvercitymuseum.org.