- A greeting card from patient Emilija Braunfeld to doctor Erika Krauj of the Lielberze Republican Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Lielberze. 1964. 14.2 x 9.8 cm. PSMHM collection: MVMp 23504 Rp 6885. Photo: Didzis GrodzsSoviet authorities deported doctor Ērika Krauja to Siberia twice. She only returned to Latvia in 1964, resuming her work at the Lielbērze tuberculosis hospital. Here, the patient expresses her gratitude to the doctor with a personal poem.
- Letter of thanks from the Central Board of the Latvian Railway Society to doctor Kārlis Baron. Riga. 1927. 2 pages, 37 x 25.8 cm. PSMHM collection: MVM 57344 R 36733. Photo: Didzis Grodzs.When trains were powered by steam locomotives, the job of a railwayman was especially dangerous. In order to ensure the continuous movement of trains, the railway doctor took care of the health of the railwaymen and organized their medical care. Kārlis Barons, who is more widely known as a dentist and the founder and head of the Department of Dentistry at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Latvia, was a long-time railway doctor.
- Letter of thanks from the patients of the 3rd department of the Riga City Tuberculosis Hospital to doctor Kārlis Seglins. Riga. 1945. 1 page, 28.8 x 22.4 cm. PSMHM collection: MVM 37313 R 29278. Photo: Didzis Grodzs.The gratitude to the persistent doctor K. Segliņis was written at the end of the Second World War, when tuberculosis was very widespread and an incurable disease due to the lack of medication. Streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis bacteria, was obtained in 1943 in the USA, but this medication reached Latvian patients much later due to the "iron curtain". In the letter of thanks to the doctor, the last line of Eric Adamson's poem is significant, which shows the constant presence of death. In 1946, E. Adamson himself died of tuberculosis. Unfortunately, even today, tuberculosis is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world.
- The poem "Steps", poetess Elīna Zālīte's dedication to Dr. Alexander Neuberg. Riga. 1945. 1 page, 17.7 x 29.5 cm. PSMHM collection: 1904 A. Photo: Maris SteinbergsElīna Zālīte (1898–1955) fell ill with spinal tuberculosis at the age of nineteen and spent a large part of her life in medical institutions. In 1924, she was operated on, but the disease spread to her lungs and kidneys. The writer had to live with the disease all her life, it affected both her education and professional activity. In July 1945, E. Zālīte returned from her refugee journey to Kurzeme and ended up in the 4th hospital of Riga city. The experience of E. Zālīte's illness is reflected in a poem dedicated to the director of the hospital, surgeon Aleksandar Neiberg (1883–1962).
- Letter of thanks from theater director Eduardas Smilģas to professor Paul Stradins. Riga. 1956. 1 page, 26.8 x 19.0 cm. PSMHM collection: MVM 47625 R 34226. Photo: Didzis GrodzsIn 1956, director Eduards Smilģis (1886–1966) worked on a new production of Raini's play "Spēlēju, dancoju" at the Daile Theater. Unfortunately, after a fall injury, the seventy-year-old Smilģis ended up in the Republican Clinical Hospital, which at that time was headed by Pauls Stradiņš (1896–1958). Smilgis managed to recover and create a legendary show that was in the repertoire of Daile Theater for more than 20 years.
- Zenta Mauriņa's letters to Professor Paul Stradiņš. Riga. 1941. 2 pages, 25.1 x 16.2 cm. PSMHM collection: MVM 47620 R 34221, MVM 47621 R 34222. Photo: Māris ŠteinbergsAt the age of five, Zenta Mauriņa (1897–1978) fell ill with poliomyelitis. The consequences of the disease were the inability to walk and other health problems for the rest of his life. In 1941, when Z. Mauriņa wrote her first novel "Dzīves vilciensė", she ended up in the Republican Clinical Hospital. The writer asked the head of the hospital, Pauls Stradiņš (1896–1958), whom she knew personally, to give her a separate room where she could continue her work undisturbed. P. Stradiņš fulfilled Z. Mauriņa's request and finished her novel in the hospital.
- Congratulatory poem Dr. For Anna Údrei on her 70th anniversary from Valdas and Annas Grēviņi. Riga. 1966. 1 page, 28.6 x 20.2 cm. PSMHM collection: MVM 42647 R 31969. Photo: Māris ŠteinbergsAnna Údre (1896–1981) was one of the first graduates of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Latvia, founded in 1919. As a student, she took part in complex surgical operations and already operated independently in 1923. From 1940 until the end of her life, she headed the Department of Surgery of the Latvian Red Cross Hospital. Contemporaries regarded A. Údri as a particularly skilled and sensitive doctor, admitting that she "treated people, not ailments", as evidenced by the poem of Valdas Grēviņš (1895-1968).
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Patient History Collection
Photo albums, portraits, musical compositions, postcards, poems, even plays — patients may express their gratitude to doctors in many ways. The life stories in this collection of printed literature reflect not only the diseases they have endured, but also their views and their emotions.
The Museum collection includes letters which patients (one of whom was the poet Jānis Sudrabkalns (1894–1975)) sent to the Dikļi tuberculosis sanatorium’s chief physician Andrejs Laukmanis (1904–1974) who was revered as a miracle worker by the mid-20th century Latvian public. The photographs in this collection also also cast striking new light on other important personalities in Latvian history: the painter Leo Kokle (1924–1964) posing with doctor Kārlis Segliņš (1904–1982) at a session on tuberculosis treatment, or Rainis (1865–1929) with Riga City Children’s Hospital staff.
A greeting card from patient Emilija Braunfeld to doctor Erika Krauj of the Lielberze Republican Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Lielberze. 1964. 14.2 x 9.8 cm. PSMHM collection: MVMp 23504 Rp 6885. Photo: Didzis Grodzs
Letter of thanks from the Central Board of the Latvian Railway Society to doctor Kārlis Baron. Riga. 1927. 2 pages, 37 x 25.8 cm. PSMHM collection: MVM 57344 R 36733. Photo: Didzis Grodzs.
Letter of thanks from the patients of the 3rd department of the Riga City Tuberculosis Hospital to doctor Kārlis Seglins. Riga. 1945. 1 page, 28.8 x 22.4 cm. PSMHM collection: MVM 37313 R 29278. Photo: Didzis Grodzs.