UW History of Science and Medicine Curator

It started so mildly...

On the morning of March 11, 1918, an Army private reported to the camp hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas complaining of fever, sore throat, and headache. By noon, the camp’s hospital had over 100 sick soldiers with similar complaints. By week’s end, that number jumped to 500.

That spring, 48 otherwise healthy soldiers died at Fort Riley, with the cause of death listed as pneumonia. Then the sickness then seemed to disappear, leaving as quickly as it had come.

But when soldiers from Kansas were deployed across the Atlantic several months later, they brought something with them: a tiny, silent companion. Almost immediately, the Kansas sickness resurfaced in Europe. American, English, French, and German soldiers got sick. As it spread, the microbe mutated, becoming more and more deadly. By the time the silent traveller came back to America, it had become a relentless killer.

The killer was identified as influenza, but it was unlike any strain ever seen. As it spread across the country, hospitals overfilled, death carts roamed the streets, and helpless city officials dug mass graves. It was the worst epidemic the nation had ever endured, killing over 600,000 Americans alone.

📸: National Archives and Records Administration

Happy Lunar New Year!

📸 Anna Louise Strong papers, acc. 1309-001. Woodcut prints gift from Mao Zedong, 1947.

Fun new history of scientific discoveries and overcoming naysayers!

I Told You So!: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, … An energetic and impassioned work of popular science ab…

Where would we be without the discoveries and inventions made by women?!

International Day of Women and Girls in Science Official Website Join women experts, youth, and professionals in dialogues and discussion to put Science, Technology, and Innovation at the heart of sustainable development programs.

TB or not TB, that is the congestion.
Consumption be done about it?
Of cough, of cough.
But it takes a lung, lung time.

"Tuberculosis has been part of the human experience for a long time. TB germs in humans trace back to 9,000 years ago. Archaeologists found TB germs in the remains of a mother and child in Atlit Yam, a city now submerged under the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel.

The earliest written records of TB disease were in India (3,300 years ago) and China (2,300 years ago). During the 1600s to 1800s, TB disease caused 25% of all deaths in Europe. Similar numbers occurred in the United States." (https://www.cdc.gov/world-tb-day/history/)

Now, an insightful look at TB in the modern era, Everything in Tuberculosis by John Green, provides a new look at a very old disease. https://everythingistb.com/

Everything Is Tuberculosis John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and a passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest disease.

The ethics and optics of historical specimen collections. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/30/a-medical-history-museum-contends-with-its-collection-of-human-remains?fbclid=IwY2xjawLGvvdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFBM21WN1UzRUkxVnYxR2h1AR6prdFkOd2KhR0i23RKDEiF8KrbiNg9SqXXa9WWhX9PFwOf2Fb_6MXtiesgUw_aem_P5Whp1kj_80mpfQ5DdAJmA

A Medical-History Museum Contends with Its Collection of Human Remains Supporters saw the Mütter’s preserved fetuses, skulls, and “Soap Lady” as a celebration of human difference. New management saw an ethical and a political minefield.

How has the plague evolved and survived for more than 5000 years? Learn more about how Yersinia pestis has adapted over the centuries.

One of the world’s most notorious pathogens has survived for centuries. Scientists say they now know why | CNN A change to a single gene in the bacterium Yersinia pestis has enabled one of the world’s most notorious pathogens to survive for centuries.

Interesting casting news about an upcoming film about the life of Rosalind Franklin!

Natalie Portman To Play Pioneering DNA Scientist Rosalind Franklin In ‘Photograph 51' For Director Tom Hooper & FilmNation - Cannes Market Hot Project EXCLUSIVE: In what is lining up to be one of hotter packages at this year’s Cannes market, we can reveal that Oscar winner Natalie Portman is set to star in Photograph 51 for The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper. Oscar winner Hooper is directing the pic which is inspired by the true story of Ro...

Happy Lunar New Year!

📸 Anna Louise Strong papers, acc 1309-001. Woodcut prints gift from Chiang Kai-shek.

Reminder! Great opportunity to hear Dr. Kimberly Jensen tomorrow evening speaking about her latest work, Oregon's Others! Register in advance to receive the Zoom link!

JANUARY MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

Join us for the Guild’s January 23, 2025 meeting and hear Dr. Kimberly Jensen, Professor of History and Gender Studies at Western Oregon University, talk about her new book, Oregon's Others: Gender, Civil Liberties, and the Surveillance State in the Early Twentieth Century. Oregon’s Others explores the era of the First World War and efforts to identify and restrict “alien enemies,” implement eugenic policies and curtail the rights of women, and examines the collision of civil liberties and persecution through the lens of gender, gender identity and presentation, ability, race, ethnicity, and class.

Via Zoom starting at 7 pm, Thursday January 23

Registration is required for this event. Please reserve your spot at this link:


https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcqcu2rrD4jHdBAfCYwVD2-tXun5f2aYkLn

People Magazine isn't often considered a source for history of Medicine topics but they recently highlighted the story of the Washington State's notorious Linda Hazzard, proponent of the "starvation" cure. https://people.com/linda-hazzard-doctor-starvation-williamson-sisters-british-heiresses-8768984

In addition to the People story, the book "Starvation Heights" dives into the subject of Hazzard's therapy. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400097460/). In addition, Smithsonian Magazine published a story on Hazzard (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/doctor-who-starved-her-patients-death-180953158/), as well as the Washington State Archives (https://digitalarchives.wa.gov/Collections/TitleInfo/2508). Check out these links if you're interested in learning more about this fascinating story!

British Heiresses Went to Trusted Doctor for Alternative Treatments. One Starved to Death, the Other Became Emaciated Claire and Dora Williamson's harrowing experience under Dr. Linda Hazzard's care ultimately led to her arrest