Admittedly somewhat bored........
Mrs. 76 and I (on our way home from our favorite coffee shop which is closing tomorrow to dine in customers but will remain open for carryout/drive thru customers) were discussing the 1918 Spanish flu and how we'd never heard about it growing up. Our parents weren't born/not old enough. In my case, only one grandparent was still living in the 1960's where I might have been able to ask a question. But, there were lots of neighbors (WW 1 vets, for example) that certainly could have related experiences. Just never talked about. (But bring up blizzards, and prepare for an earful about winter of 1936.....
.)
Anyway, I decided to query my home town newspaper archives for 1918. I just examined a few links. At the time Estherville had three newspapers. The one article about "Uncle Sam's Advice" appeared in all three around October, 1918. The advice is very similar to today's. However, viruses were't yet completely understood. The article talks about bacteria present but not sure if the cause. If you read closely in other articles on the page there are references to the flu and deaths related to the flu. And this just page 7.
(If they don't download, click on the downward arrow which looks like pointing to a desktop computer in the header at the top.)
http://estherville.advantage-preser...owa_estherville_19181016_english_7&df=1&dt=10
The other article is from December 11, 1918. Schools closing until after the holidays. More deaths from the flu. Not all have influenza word in the articles as cause of death.
http://estherville.advantage-preser...owa_estherville_19181211_english_1&df=1&dt=10
Check out your hometown library. Many have free access to newspaper archive. They certainly are "newsy" and were with much more personal info than what you'll find today in media, unless you're on Facebook......
They are particularly interesting during the WW2 war years.
Mrs. 76 and I (on our way home from our favorite coffee shop which is closing tomorrow to dine in customers but will remain open for carryout/drive thru customers) were discussing the 1918 Spanish flu and how we'd never heard about it growing up. Our parents weren't born/not old enough. In my case, only one grandparent was still living in the 1960's where I might have been able to ask a question. But, there were lots of neighbors (WW 1 vets, for example) that certainly could have related experiences. Just never talked about. (But bring up blizzards, and prepare for an earful about winter of 1936.....
.) Anyway, I decided to query my home town newspaper archives for 1918. I just examined a few links. At the time Estherville had three newspapers. The one article about "Uncle Sam's Advice" appeared in all three around October, 1918. The advice is very similar to today's. However, viruses were't yet completely understood. The article talks about bacteria present but not sure if the cause. If you read closely in other articles on the page there are references to the flu and deaths related to the flu. And this just page 7.
(If they don't download, click on the downward arrow which looks like pointing to a desktop computer in the header at the top.)
http://estherville.advantage-preser...owa_estherville_19181016_english_7&df=1&dt=10
The other article is from December 11, 1918. Schools closing until after the holidays. More deaths from the flu. Not all have influenza word in the articles as cause of death.
http://estherville.advantage-preser...owa_estherville_19181211_english_1&df=1&dt=10
Check out your hometown library. Many have free access to newspaper archive. They certainly are "newsy" and were with much more personal info than what you'll find today in media, unless you're on Facebook.....
.They are particularly interesting during the WW2 war years.
