Researching Epidemics in the Rubenstein Library: Influenza

Report on an influenza epidemic that occurred in Western Europe in 1847-1848. Included detailed case studies of individuals who contracted the disease.

Report produced for the British government on influenza epidemics that occurred in Britain from 1889 to 1892. Also includes information on epidemics in other nations during the same time period.

Report based on information and data collected during the 1918 influenza epidemic in Pittsburgh.

Report from the British government on the spread of influenza in the British military at the end of World War I.

Report produced by the Ministry of Health in Great Britain focused on the epidemiology of influenza in Britain and how it compared to the situation in other areas of the world. Includes a large amount of statistical information.

Statistical report focusing on the impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic on three locations in the U.S: Kansas, Indiana, and Philadelphia. Includes graphs, data charts, and maps.

Small books produced for the general public containing advice, mostly naturopathic, for dealing with a variety of illnesses. Volume 21 focuses on the flu.

A project from the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine exploring the 1918 influenza pandemic in America. The site offers essays on the experience of the epidemic in 50 American cities accompanied by numerous digitized primary sources like newspaper articles, government reports, and images. The primary sources database is searchable.

An online exhibit from UNC-Chapel Hill focusing on the impact of the pandemic in North Carolina and at the university. The site includes digitized primary sources, including archival material, as well as oral histories from North Carolinians who lived through the pandemic.

An online exhibition from DPLA (Digital Public Library of America) that includes letters, photographs, and other documents.

Joseph Jastrow was a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin. His papers include a typed memoir, circa 1920, written by the biological father of Jastrow's adopted son. The memoir contains an account the 1918 influenza epidemic, which led to the adoption of the infant Benno by the Jastrow family.

Elizabeth Ringgold was a resident of rural northeastern Oklahoma. Her diaries chronicle daily life and entries mention influenza during the 1918 pandemic.

Robert Preston Harriss was a journalist and author from Baltimore. Correspondence from his sister gives details on life in Fayetteville, N.C., including a description of the time period during World War I and the effects of the Spanish influenza epidemic.

Small collection of letters from Dr. William de Berniere MacNider, pharmacologist and professor at the University of North Carolina, to Leone Newell. The letters mention the influenza pandemic at the university in 1919.

Collection of personal letters sent to Josie Neal from friends in military camps during World War I. A 1918 letter describes the influenza epidemic in Greensboro, N.C.

Meetings minutes of the Durham, N.C. local business organization mention a discussion of offering money to the Board of Health in an attempt to stamp out the influenza epidemic.