Public Health

Title: Photograph of a Man With Smallpox
Type: Photograph
Date: no date
Source: Minnesota Historical Society

Description: This man had been vaccinated for smallpox years ago, but still contracted the disease.
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Activities:

1. What can we learn about this man from the photograph and caption beneath it?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: We can guess that he is an immigrant from Scotland, since that is where he was first vaccinated.
2. Why was this man's case of smallpox less severe than other cases they had seen?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Since he had been given the vaccine as a child, his case was less severe.
3. How did this man get smallpox in the first place?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: The caption suggests that he was a renter in the same house where the first case of smallpox in the area appeared and probably caught it from exposure to that person.
4. Since this photograph has a descriptive caption on it, what might we guess about its use?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: This photograph could be one in a series of photographs collected by health department workers or doctors who wished to present their findings to another group of doctors or officials for study.