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Pandemics and Outbreaks

Articles

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

aerial view of the shops

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

1 item

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

2 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

Speakers Bureau

1 item

The 1918-1919 Flu Pandemic in McLean County

Speakers Bureau