John Eicher, associate professor of history at Penn State Altoona, published an article on the 1918 influenza pandemic in the journal Contemporary European History.
Analyzing nearly 1,000 memories of the 1918 flu collected from individuals across 10 European countries and archival materials from federal, municipal, religious and diary archives in France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, Eicher concluded that the average Europeans who endured the 1918 influenza pandemic had no idea it was a pandemic in real time. He noted that this was likely because many people were either unaware or unconcerned with the flu's origins as they were isolated by limited media and medical regimes, they were well-acquainted with illness and death, and they existed in a world marred by economic and political chaos.
This better understanding of how the 1918 influenza pandemic was understood by those affected in real time could help clarify public health policies of the time and help inform decision-making in future outbreaks, Eicher said.
This work was supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, the National Endowment for the Humanities (Summer Stipend and Fellowship), Penn State Altoona and Project House Europe.
