By the 1950s, the tuberculosis crisis had been devastating the Navajo Nation for decade with mortality rates many times the national average.  The U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare contracted fifteen sanatoriums, including Cragmor, to help combat this issue.  In 1959, the first Navajo patients arrived at Cragmor via airplane.  Navajos, mostly women, soon comprised the vast majority of the patients at the sanatorium and came to define its last decade of operation.

This exhibit was created by Gwendolyn Swift, BA in Visual and Performing Arts, minor in Museum Studies and Gallery Practice.

View images of the display on our Flickr site!