1918 pandemic

Archives Expose Similarities from 1918 Pandemic to Covid19

story by Brooke Norgaard

The University of Sioux Falls is living through history as it navigates a pandemic and looks upon its past as a guide. Archives at USF reveal similarities as well as differences as the world lives through history and compares Covid-19 to the 1918 pandemic. Training journalists has been a tradition at USF, and this current USF Vessel Magazine you are reading stems from previous publications at the university which prepared student journalists for a career in writing and covering events. In the early 1900s that training vehicle at Sioux Falls College (the predecessor to USF) was The Sioux Falls Stylus newspaper. Old copies of this publication are housed in the basement of USF’s Mears Library along with many other college archives. A 1918 issue of the Stylus holds a look into the past as it recounts the students’ experiences with the Influenza pandemic. Director of Library Services Annie Sternburg alerted the Vessel staff to these amazing archives and the story it tells about how the 1918 pandemic affected the Sioux Falls College (USF) community. History professor Stephen Jackson also shared historical context for the 1918 pandemic and its connections to the current pandemic. The 1918 flu pandemic was different from the current Covid-19 pandemic, however, many similarities can be found. Sternburg shared an article from the archives regarding students quarantining and the college being closed due to the rise of the severity of the pandemic throughout the world. In the October 18, 1918 edition of the Sioux Falls Stylus, a student writes, “S. F. C. classes are discontinued until the influenza epidemic has passed. This was entirely a precautionary measure, for there are no cases in the school...The students were not daunted at the closing of schools and churches. Are they idle? No, they are using this unexpected vacation to good advantage. Even faculty members are picking corn.” Later, the article read, “The Dorm girls went to church last Sunday. Where? In their own parlors! True piety found a means of expression and Prof. Martini let the lesson study in the Y. W. C. A. room Sunday morning.”