Dr. Henry Boswell became superintendent of the Mississippi State Sanatorium in 1917 and served in that capacity for forty years. During the early years of the twentieth century when most southern tuberculosis sanatoriums were relatively small institutions, Dr. Boswell persuaded the Mississippi legislature to appropriate funds for the expansion of the state sanatorium. His influence spread throughout the South, and Dr. Boswell was often invited to speak in other states on the need for additional beds for tuberculosis patients.

Dr. Boswell was president of the Mississippi State Medical Association from 1921 to 1922; the Southern Tuberculosis Conference from 1925 to 1926; the American Sanatorium Association (now American Trudeau Society) from 1928 to 1929; and the National Tuberculosis Association. He died in Magee, Mississippi, on December 17, 1957, after devoting a lifetime to the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis.

This collection contains issues of the Thermometer, a publication of the Mississippi State Sanatorium (September 1926-June 1932); images of Dr. Boswell at the state sanatorium; images of the state sanatorium after an April 1957 tornado; three scrapbooks on Dr. Boswell (1957-1958); and a record album.