The Motor Corps of St. Louis chapter of the American Red Cross on ambulance duty during the influenza epidemic, October 1918. Photo Credit – UM Influenza Encyclopedia Image Gallery
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I confess to being a major medical history buff, a predilection that began nearly a half century ago when I read James Leasor’s account of two pivotal years in the history of London (1665-1666) - which began with the Great plague, and ended with the Fire of London.
In the 1970s, after the Swine Flu scare of 1976 (see my account of that event in Deja Flu, All Over Again.), I often asked my patients (who had been teenagers or young adults in 1918) about their memories of the 1918 Spanish Flu.
And I’m currently reading (a gift from a friend: thanks, John) Infectio., a fascinating history of infectious diseases and their early treatments, by Werner Schreiber and Friedrich Karl Mathys.
So I was particularly pleased to get a head’s up overnight from Eric Starbuck that the University of Michigan’s Center for the History Of Medicine has published their impressive digital encyclopedia (containing more than 18,000 historical documents) of the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.
I’m just beginning to explore this site, but I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen so far. Not only as a chronicle of the great pandemic, but also as a glimpse back at life in the United States nearly 95 years ago.
With this much to explore, I fear I won’t get much work done today. But nevertheless . . .
Highly recommended.
