This silent footage shows not only tuberculosis patients but also healthy children being institutionalized to prevent them from contracting tuberculosis and other diseases. The film opens with aerial shots in 1926 of the South Mountain Restoration Center in South Mountain, Pennsylvania, including the tuberculosis hospital, children's hospital, patient huts, open air pavilions for patient sunbathing, staff golf course, and patient burial ground. It also shows close up exterior shots of huts, hospital, chapel, patient store (interior as well), nurses' home, and the burning of the auditorium. The film documents therapies such as adult tuberculosis patients sunbathing on the floor of a deck with hospital attendants monitoring their behavior. Another therapy shown includes patients sitting with their mouths open, holding small mirrors to reflect the sunlight into their mouths. Well but undernourished children (called "Fresh Air Kids") who come to the Center for the summer to gain better health are shown arriving at the center in buses, getting physical exams, and having their hair shaved, playing on playground equipment designed to optimize exercise, sunbathing with a single, long cloth covering their faces, picnicking, hiking in formation, waiting in line to get a drink of milk, participating in formal flag lowering ceremonies, boxing (both male and female children), and leaving in buses and trains. Children hospitalized due to undernourishment or other diseases like pneumonia are shown sleigh riding, throwing snowballs, having their hands inspected in their dormitory, at recreation time with doll making and board games, swinging, and playing jacks. Nurses are shown in formation walking down the steps of their home, playing on swings, and with patients, taking their temperatures, inspecting hands, etc. African-American children are shown in this film. Unknown producer. Learn more about this film and search its transcript at NLM Digital Collections: http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/100886271 Learn more about the National Library of Medicine's historical audiovisuals program at: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/collections/films
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