Ghost Town Tension: Post-War Public Health and Commerce in a Rural Virginian Polio Epidemic, 1950

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorSpraker, Timothy Jacoben
dc.contributor.committeechairJones, Kathleen W.en
dc.contributor.committeememberWallenstein, Peter R.en
dc.contributor.committeememberWisnioski, Matthewen
dc.contributor.departmentHistoryen
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-13T19:43:57Zen
dc.date.adate2015-11-23en
dc.date.available2017-06-13T19:43:57Zen
dc.date.issued2012-05-01en
dc.date.rdate2015-11-23en
dc.date.sdate2012-05-11en
dc.description.abstractThis thesis is a study of a post-World War II polio epidemic in one small Southwest Virginian town before widespread application of the vaccine. While others have explored urban public health responses to polio and national efforts to promote prevention and treatment efforts, in this history I look at reactions to the disease at the local level in this rural community particularly hard-hit by an acute medical event. The central question addressed in the research is how the polio epidemic changed the nature of community. Prior to the polio epidemic in this rural Southwest Virginian town, community meant creating and strengthening social ties throughout town—most visibly through large social functions and leisure gatherings such as church or baseball. Through identifying and analyzing reactions to the epidemic among families/individuals, the public health, and business, a transition emerged. Being a part of community during the summer polio epidemic meant protecting the public health while simultaneously protecting economic health as a backbone and lifeline of the family.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.identifier.otheretd-05112012-102816en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05112012-102816/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/78105en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subject1950en
dc.subjectWythevilleen
dc.subjectVirginiaen
dc.subjectpoliomyelitisen
dc.titleGhost Town Tension: Post-War Public Health and Commerce in a Rural Virginian Polio Epidemic, 1950en
dc.typeThesisen
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
thesis.degree.disciplineHistoryen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
etd-05112012-102816_Spraker_TJ_T_2012_2.pdf
Size:
866.05 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Masters Theses