In recent years, archaeologists found evidence of a disease from 9,000-year-old human remains near the Mediterranean.

The first written mentions of this disease go back several thousand years as well.

Through the ages, it went by several names, consumption, the white plague, due to the pale skin of those afflicted.

In 1882, it got the name we're all familiar with today, tuberculosis.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe, tuberculosis caused 25% of all deaths.

At its peak, it killed one out of every seven people in Europe and America.

Not one out of every seven people who caught it. One out of every seven people in Europe and America. Not one out of every seven people who caught it.

One out of every seven people total. Nearly everyone who caught it died from it. It was so common,

and so much a part of culture, that it features prominently in major works like La Boeem, Le Miserables,

La Traviata. Many people whose names you recognize died from tuberculosis, including

Anton Chekhov, Frederick Chopin, Henry David Thoreau, even our fifth president, James Monroe.

By the turn of the 20th century, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in America by far.

And people were working to fight it in countless ways, including one as novel as it was

effective, one that raised money and awareness, while also spreading Christmas cheer, one that

even to this day remains one of the first signs that the Christmas season is upon us once again.

Christmas and charity have a long history together, as do Christmas and the Postal Service.

And putting it all together in the form of Christmas Seals was all due to a failing health clinic in Delaware

and one woman's tireless and creative efforts to make a difference.

I'm Brian Earle. This is Christmas Past.

In this age of mostly digital communication, Christmas seals, like Christmas cards themselves,

feel like the product of a bygone era. And that's because they are.

American Lung Association's history with Christmas seals actually goes back to 1907.

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