[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/anthro students edited.jpg” caption=”Fourth-year honours anthropology students wrote a book about the TB outbreak in Hamilton. Photo courtesy of Dr. Ann Herring (below). Photo by Deborah McIvor.”]Students in Dr. Ann Herring's fourth-year anthropology course have spent the past term researching, writing and editing articles for a book entitled Before the San: Tuberculosis in Hamilton at the
Turn of the Twentieth Century.

The hands-on assignment in ANTHROP 4S03: The Anthropology of Infectious Disease had students working on every aspect of the book publishing process, from writing and editing to layout and design. The project began in September, and the book will get printed in early December.

The book examines the tuberculosis outbreak of 1904-05 from a variety of perspectives, including diagnosis and treatment, efforts to quarantine those infected with the disease and its impact on immigrants and children.

Last year, Herring and her students published a book entitled Anatomy of a Pandemic: The 1918 Influenza in Hamilton.

“It was such a great learning experience for the students and me, I just had to do it again,” she said.

A strong advocate of experiential education, Herring encouraged her students to do as much learning as possible outside the classroom.

They visited the Hamilton Public Archives, the Ontario Archives and Hamilton Cemetary to find primary sources of information such as death records, newspaper articles and diaries written by those who lived through the tuberculosis outbreak.

Herring also wanted to educate Hamiltonians about their city's history. The book coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Hamilton Sanatorium, which opened in 1906.

When asked if the lessons learned from the tuberculosis outbreak could be applied to future outbreaks of disease, Herring replied, “Every epidemic is different. What's common to all epidemics is the social reactions: fear and panic. Those things stay the same.”

The project received funding from the Academic Innovation Grant offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Copies of the book will be available at Titles in January.