Pandemics and Outbreaks

Resources are listed in alphabetical order. More information can always be found by using our website search bar, or contacting a member of our staff.

Articles

Pages from our Past articles written by Bill Kemp

4 items

A light-skinned man stands in a dark plaid 3-piece suit, tie, and hat. He's outdoors, with grasses and trees in the background. He has both hands in his pocket. Superimposed on the photo is a booklet title

Area’s deadliest cholera outbreak in 1855

During the summer of 1855, cholera swept through Bloomington and outlying communities. It was o...

Article

Influenza pandemic brought Twin Cities to standstill

“Do Not Fear Influenza,” read a local Red Cross notice from October 1918. “Learn how to avoid i...

Article

Railroad shops center of deadly 1920 typhoid outbreak

For much of its first 100 years, Bloomington’s formerly unreliable water supply threatened to h...

Article

Undertaker’s invoice window into Bloomington’s rich past

As a not-for-profit institution, the McLean County Museum of History depends on the generosity ...

Article

Blog

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McHistory: ‘King of Swedes’ kept Bloomington streets clean

Listen to the audio on WGLT's website hereMcHistory goes back in time to explore big momen...

Blog Post

Finding Aids

Archival collection finding aids (full contents of collections available on site)

3 items

COVID-19 Collection

On January 21, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first c...

Finding Aid

Fairview Sanatorium

Tuberculosis, also known as “white death” or consumption, is a bacterial disease that mainly af...

Finding Aid

Sandra Harmon COVID-19 Pandemic Journals

On March 9, 2020, Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation, the state's equiv...

Finding Aid

Speakers Bureau

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The 1918-1919 Flu Pandemic in McLean County

Speakers Bureau

Videos

Livestreamed and recorded presentations by staff, experts, and community members.

2 items

COVID-19 Past, Present, and Future: Lessons Learned

Video

Lunch and Learn: Bloomington/Normal Labor Market During the Covid Era: Are we Different?

Video