Higher Education and the 1918 Pandemic​

I created this page for students in EDHE 730 who studied the effects of the 1918 pandemic on higher education during the 2020-21 academic year. I've maintained it here as a resource.

Guiding Questions for this Project:
•    How did the 1918 pandemic affect institutions of higher education in the United States?
•    How did individual campuses respond to the pandemic of 1918? How did World War I affect this response?

Resources about the 1918 Pandemic

• Influenza Encyclopedia: The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919 (University of Michigan)
• The Deadly Virus: The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 (National Archives)
• Timeline of the 1918 Pandemic (CDC)
• The Deadliest Pandemic in Modern History (History This Week podcast)
• What The 1918 Flu Pandemic Teaches Us About The Coronavirus Outbreak (On Point, NPR)
• Photos of the 1918 Flu Pandemic (The Atlantic, April 10, 2018)
• Troubling Parallels: Using Historical Analysis to Understand Pandemics of the Past (Wiley, June 25, 2020)
• ‘The 1918 flu is still with us’: The deadliest pandemic ever is still causing problems today (Washington Post, September 3, 2020)
• How do pandemics end? History suggests diseases fade but are almost never truly gone (by Nükhet Varlik in The Conversation, Oct. 14, 2020)
• Universities in years of pandemic: 1665, 1918, 2020: a roundtable discussion. History of Universities Seminar. (July 14, 2021)
  

My Presentations about the Pandemic

Anderson, Christian K. (November 6, 2021.) “Higher Education and the Pandemic of 1918-20.” History of Education Society. San Diego, California. 

Anderson, Christian K. & Kaitlyn Hall. (October 1, 2021). “Teaching and Learning about a Pandemic...During a Pandemic: Perspectives from a Professor and Student.” Organization of Educational Historians. Online.

Anderson, Christian K., Chris Goslin, and Benjamin Johnson. (September 29, 2021.) “If Past is Prologue, What Does this Mean for a Post-Pandemic America?” Panel for Ethical Dimensions of Civic Life conference. Center for the Study of Ethics, Utah Valley University (online). 

"Pandemic Pedagogy and the Influenza of 1918" (June 16, 2021). Podcast episode for the Organization of American Historians (OAH) Intervals series.

Anderson, Christian K. (December 2, 2020.) “Higher Education in Crisis: How Past Crises Have Shaped Higher Education.” For “The Future U and the Future You” TIAA Institute for Emerging Leaders Network. Charlotte, North Carolina (online).

​Anderson, Christian K. and Amber Fallucca. (November 8, 2020.) “College Football During a Pandemic: 1918 and 2020.” History of Education Society. Online.

Histories and Articles about the 1918 Pandemic

• Barry, John M. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. New York: Penguin Books, 2004/2018.
• Crosby, Alfred W. America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Cambridge University Press, 1989/2003. (First published in 1976 as Epidemic and Peace: 1918.)
  • Short interview with Crosby on PBS
• Bristow, Nancy K. American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic. Oxford University Press, 2017.
• Spinney, Laura. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World. New York: PublicAffairs, 2017.
• Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood Press, 2008.

Documentaries

• “We Heard the Bells: The Influenza of 1918” (2010)
• "Influenza 1918" (1998)

​​Contact Dr. Anderson with questions or to submit additional materials for this page: [email protected].