By Brendan W. Clark ’21
Editor-in-Chief
The SATC Training Corps at Trinity College in 1918, standing in front of Seabury Hall (which at that time had doors). They were quarantined as part of the College’s response in 1918.
I had the pleasure in early April to work with the Trinity College Watkinson Archives and the College’s History Department on a digital museum documenting Trinity’s experiences and response to the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.
Combining clippings from Tripod articles, College documents, and various bulletins and obituaries from College publications and the Hartford Courant, I have reconstructed what little we know of the impacts on Trinity and the alumni community. It is certainly safe to say that the 1918 response bears little resemblance to the Trinity experience in the present age.
While not directly policy-related, I’m pleased to share the feature here and the archive here. Together, they are important reminders of the importance of having a historical record for our College and do, so far as policy is concerned, perhaps attest to the lack of state and national responses to the 1918 Influenza. Our institution’s varied history is doubtless always important for all Trinity students to know.
Student’s Research on Trinity and 1918 Flu Pandemic is First Exhibit in Watkinson’s Virtual Museum