Paper short abstract:

What do old photographs tell us about everyday life in an isolated tuberculosis sanatorium? Who do the photos belong to? Are they only available to museum professionals and researchers, or are former patients, employees and their children entitled to the images, as well as residents and tourists?

Paper long abstract:

Paimio Sanatorium in Paimio, Southwest Finland, is a tuberculosis sanatorium designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto. Completed in 1933 and used as a hospital until 2015, the building is known internationally for its architecture, but everyday life inside its walls have remained relatively unknown. The research project "Paimio sanatorium: social, historical and cultural perspectives" by the departments of Ethnology, Folkloristics and Museology of the University of Turku examines the daily life of the sanatorium from different perspectives and at different times.

In this presentation, we explore the patients' agency in a tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1940s and 1960s through visual and oral history material based on Kokko´s master thesis and research process concerning the whole research project. We ask what the patients' agency was like in an institution like the sanatorium, which is described as totalitarian, and how agency is expressed in the different type of materials. The Paimio Sanatorium photo collection owned by Turku Lazaret Museum was selected as the main research material on the initiative of members of a local homestead association. Closed reminiscence events will be held where the local activists come together to look at the photos and share their memories.

The collection of sanatorium photos has raised ethical questions, for instance about the privacy of former patients. The question of ownership of photos, which can be seen as cultural heritage, has come up strongly ─ who has the right to use the images that shed unique light on the isolated everyday life of the sanatorium.