The mass urbanization and industrialization of the mid nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States brought with it economic prosperity and modernity, but the cost was steep. Poverty, poor sanitation, and environmental pollution all helped to let loose the highly contagious disease of consumption, or tuberculosis. The White Plague, as it was called, was so prevalent that it engulfed many newspapers with articles ranging from stories of "consumptive beauty" to desperate entreaties for resources to fight the disease. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.