At Rest: An Epidemiological Study of Potsdam’s Cemetery Populations (2020)

Frederick B. Kilmer Research Award 1st Place (Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences)

A census of four out of the five cemeteries in Potsdam, NY, was used to create a database of approximately 6000 people interred there. This study combines these data with corresponding obituaries found in the Courier and Freeman from 1861 to 1911. Armed with this information, I tracked the spread of infectious diseases in the greater Potsdam area over the corresponding fifty years. This study will show area death rates from tuberculosis, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, cholera, and spinal meningitis. Lines of potential future research will also be proposed.