In conjunction with the current exhibit, Medicine and Illness: Health Care in Geneva, the Geneva Historical Society's spring lecture series is focused on illness and its treatment. The second lecture in the series is “Becoming Well at the Water Cures of Upstate New York” by Jane Oakes on Tuesday, April 17 at 7 p.m.
 
Water cures and mineral springs became popular during the 1830s and 1840s. Many continued to exist right into the 20th century. Ms. Oakes will look at what made these treatments popular, how the two health approaches differed, and how water cure theories still impact our ideas about health today. Examples will include Jackson’s Our Home on the Hillside in Dansville, the Cordelia Green Water Cure in Castile, and the sulfur springs hotels in Avon. She may also touch on Geneva’s own water cure at the Hygienic Institute on Pulteney Park.
 
Jane Oakes has been involved with historic education for over forty years. She has taught classes in open hearth cooking, nineteenth century schooling, and historic architecture for Genesee Country Village & Museum, was a museum studies and local history teacher for BOCES, and was the School Tours and Education Coordinator for the William Mills Mansion Museum in Mt. Morris. Ms. Oakes holds a BA in Theater and an MA in History.
 
The lecture series will conclude May 2 with “18th- and 19th-Century Medicine: From the Revolution Through the Civil War”  by Les Buell.
 
The lecture series is free and open to the public. It is supported in part by the Samuel B. Williams Fund for Programs in the Humanities. For more information about this program or the series, visit www. genevahistoricalsociety.com or call the Geneva Historical Society office at 315-789-5151.
 
The Geneva History Museum is located at 543 South Main Street and is open Tuesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Parking is available on the street or in the lot at Trinity Episcopal Church.