Public Health Campaign

Nine-year-old Siviter Ward Horn (1914-2004) wore this public health campaign tag home from Highland School in 1923, encouraging him and his family to remember to gain weight and be healthy. The tags were sponsored by the Oregon Tuberculosis Association. WHC 0080.001.0001.004.03.

WHC 0081.001.0001.004.03.

Public Health Campaign Tag sent home with Siviter Ward Horn from School in 1923.  WHC 0081.001.0001.004.03.

0080001000100403Contrary to current public health initiatives to curb childhood obesity, this tag encourages weight gain.  Since this tag was supplied by the Oregon Tuberculosis Association and weight loss is a symptom of TB, we suppose this campaign was aimed at looking for early warning signs.  Tuberculosis, known at the time as the Great White Plague, was one of the leading causes of death in the United States in the early twentieth century. 

Siviter Ward Horn

Siviter Ward Horn was born in Post, Garza, Texas on 16 May 1914.  He moved to Salem, Oregon from Texas sometime around 1923 with his family, including parents Rudolph A. Horn and Johnnie Neal Horn nee Ward.  He attended Highland School, Parrish Junior High School and Salem High School.  He died in 2004 and is entombed in the Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum in Salem.