The national leprosarium of the United States, located in Carville, Louisiana, started as the Louisiana Leper Home in 1894. Since Louisiana contained the largest endemic population in the contiguous United States of people suffering from leprosy, or Hansen’s disease as it would later be known, and maintained a successful institution dedicated to the care of such patients, the federal government purchased the leprosarium for national use in 1921. Although the national leprosarium was closed as a hospital in 1999, a small analog museum located on site preserves the history of the facility, the lives of the former patients, and tireless work of the medical staff. This thesis summarizes the history of the national leprosarium and describes museum exhibition and interpretation theory utilized during the creation of a digital exhibit for the National Hansen’s Disease Museum that focuses on patient and staff life at the facility as well as the milestones in medical history that occurred at Carville.
","abstract_html":"<p>The national leprosarium of the United States, located in Carville, Louisiana, started as the Louisiana Leper Home in 1894. Since Louisiana contained the largest endemic population in the contiguous United States of people suffering from leprosy, or Hansen’s disease as it would later be known, and maintained a successful institution dedicated to the care of such patients, the federal government purchased the leprosarium for national use in 1921. Although the national leprosarium was closed as a hospital in 1999, a small analog museum located on site preserves the history of the facility, the lives of the former patients, and tireless work of the medical staff. This thesis summarizes the history of the national leprosarium and describes museum exhibition and interpretation theory utilized during the creation of a digital exhibit for the National Hansen’s Disease Museum that focuses on patient and staff life at the facility as well as the milestones in medical history that occurred at Carville.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Turner, Laura"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts - History","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Perky Beisel","M. Scott Sosebee","Andrew Lannen"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:30Z","subjects":["digital exhibit","interpretation","medical history","Hansen's disease","leprosarium","museum","hospital","exhibition","Cultural History","History","History of Science, Technology, and Medicine","Oral History","Social History","United States History"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/366","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Perky Beisel","M. Scott Sosebee","Andrew Lannen"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Turner, Laura"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-05-07T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts - History"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["digital exhibit","interpretation","medical history","Hansen's disease","leprosarium","museum","hospital","exhibition","Cultural History","History","History of Science, Technology, and Medicine","Oral History","Social History","United States History"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/366"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The national leprosarium of the United States, located in Carville, Louisiana, started as the Louisiana Leper Home in 1894. Since Louisiana contained the largest endemic population in the contiguous United States of people suffering from leprosy, or Hansen’s disease as it would later be known, and maintained a successful institution dedicated to the care of such patients, the federal government purchased the leprosarium for national use in 1921. Although the national leprosarium was closed as a hospital in 1999, a small analog museum located on site preserves the history of the facility, the lives of the former patients, and tireless work of the medical staff. This thesis summarizes the history of the national leprosarium and describes museum exhibition and interpretation theory utilized during the creation of a digital exhibit for the National Hansen’s Disease Museum that focuses on patient and staff life at the facility as well as the milestones in medical history that occurred at Carville.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Stories from Both Sides of the Hedge: A History of and Digital Exhibit for the National Hansen's Disease Museum"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Perky Beisel","M. Scott Sosebee","Andrew Lannen"],"dc:creator":["Turner, Laura"],"dc:date.available":["2021-05-07T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The national leprosarium of the United States, located in Carville, Louisiana, started as the Louisiana Leper Home in 1894. Since Louisiana contained the largest endemic population in the contiguous United States of people suffering from leprosy, or Hansen’s disease as it would later be known, and maintained a successful institution dedicated to the care of such patients, the federal government purchased the leprosarium for national use in 1921. Although the national leprosarium was closed as a hospital in 1999, a small analog museum located on site preserves the history of the facility, the lives of the former patients, and tireless work of the medical staff. This thesis summarizes the history of the national leprosarium and describes museum exhibition and interpretation theory utilized during the creation of a digital exhibit for the National Hansen’s Disease Museum that focuses on patient and staff life at the facility as well as the milestones in medical history that occurred at Carville.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/366"],"dc:subject":["digital exhibit","interpretation","medical history","Hansen's disease","leprosarium","museum","hospital","exhibition","Cultural History","History","History of Science, Technology, and Medicine","Oral History","Social History","United States History"],"dc:title":["Stories from Both Sides of the Hedge: A History of and Digital Exhibit for the National Hansen's Disease Museum"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts - History"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:30Z"}