Title
Reporting the Spanish Influenza Epidemic in Nevada
Document Type
Blog
Publication Date
9-15-2020
Publication Title
Nevada Digital Newspaper Project
First page number:
1
Last page number:
37
Abstract
The last great global pandemic before COVID 19 was the Spanish Influenza of 1918-20 which killed by some estimates over 30,000,000 people, 675,000 of those in the United States, ten-times the number of Americans who died in World War I. In another historical comparison, more people died of the Spanish Influenza in one year than died in four years of the Black Death of 1347-1351 in which a third of Europe’s population perished. In the early days of mass communication by telegraph and newspapers, compared to our own age of instant, constant streaming information, how did people know what was happening and how to respond to a catastrophic public health crisis? Using Nevada newspapers digitized as part of the NEH National Digital Newspaper Program and available on the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America website we can tell the story of the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 as it spread to, and across Nevada, as it was reported in Nevada newspapers.
Keywords
Nevada; Spanish Influenza; Pandemic; COVID-19; Statewide coverage; Newspapers
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences | Public Health | Public Health Education and Promotion
Language
English
Repository Citation
Michel, P.
(2020).
Reporting the Spanish Influenza Epidemic in Nevada.
Nevada Digital Newspaper Project
1-37.
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/lib_articles/720