By Bill Thawley

At the beginning of the twentieth century, tuberculosis was a feared disease, and its harmful effects on children were particularly devastating. Because it was highly contagious, patients with tuberculosis were treated in special hospitals called sanatoriums. The operational costs of the sanatoriums were great, and many could not afford treatment.

In 1904, Einar Holbøll, a Danish postal clerk, developed the idea of adding an extra charitable stamp on mailed holiday greetings during Christmas. The money raised would be used to help children sick with tuberculosis. Over 4 million “Christmas Seals” were sold in the first year and within six years, enough money was raised to build the Christmas Seal Sanatorium in Denmark.

This sparked Jacob Riis, a Danish-American social worker, journalist and friend of Theodore Roosevelt, to write an editorial advocating the sale of Christmas Seals in America. Inspired by Riis, American Red Cross leader Emily Bissell designed the first Red Cross Christmas Seal in 1907. Bissell hoped the stamps could be sold to raise funds for an experimental tuberculosis hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. Sold at post offices for a penny each, the sale of Christmas Seals generated $250,000 by 1909.

It became obvious to the Red Cross that this campaign should be continued. The director of the American Red Cross at the time, Ernest Percy Bicknell, was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Tuberculosis Association. Bicknell and Dr. Livingston Farrand, a member of the faculty of Columbia University, arranged a partnership in the sale of the Seals with the Red Cross. The American Red Cross and the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis were partners in this endeavor, and they split the proceeds equally. The Christmas Seal at this time featured both the Red Cross emblem and the double-barred cross of Lorraine emblem for the National Tuberculosis Association.

By 1920, the Red Cross withdrew from the arrangement and the program was taken over by the National Tuberculosis Association. The National Tuberculosis Association became the American Lung Association in 1973 and continues the proud tradition of Christmas Seals today. The program’s revenue is vital source for the organization’s work against lung diseases.