Lecture: “The Boston Red Cross in the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic: Vanguard Fighter or Rogue Chapter?”

October 17, 2015

2 p.m.

Lecture by Marian Moser Jones, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, Department of Public Health

As World War I drew to a close, a new crisis appeared at home: the worldwide influenza pandemic had reached American shores. In August of 1918 the first influenza cases began to appear in sailors stationed in Boston Harbor. Within months the disease spread across the country sickening as many at 25 million Americans and killing over 550,000 of them. With most nurses still overseas and local authorities overwhelmed, the government turned to the Red Cross to care for the sick.  Boston’s local Red Cross chapter acted quickly to meet the needs of the emergency. However, once the Red Cross National Headquarters stepped in to call the shots, the headstrong Boston chapter ignored or rejected their directives. 

In this, the fourth of a five part series exploring The U.S. Home Front During World War I, the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library has invited noted scholar Marian Moser

Jones, Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, to explore the Red Cross-led response to the 1918-1919 flu in Boston and New England, and discuss whether the local officials acted wisely in charting their own course during this deadly public health crisis.

This lecture is made possible by the generous support of the Ruby W. and LaVon P.  Linn Foundation and is part of the lecture series, “The U.S. Home Front during World War I: Duty Sacrifice, and Obligation.”

References:

Jones, Marian Moser. The American Red Cross: from Clara Barton to the New Deal. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013).

Lecture: "Community Gardening During World War I: Sowing the Seeds of Victory"

Photo courtesy of Rose Hayden-Smith

October 3, 2015

2 p.m.

Lecture and Book Signing by Rose Hayden-Smith

As we approach harvest time here in New England, join us at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library to learn how World War I gardens were considered patriotic. Our speaker, Rose Hayden-Smith, University of California, is a nationally-recognized expert on historical and contemporary issues surrounding gardens, food systems, sustainability and food policy. 

Hayden-Smith will discuss how three popular WWI gardening and agricultural programs affected American food production and consumption patterns. The National War Garden Commission (Liberty and Victory Gardens), the United States School Garden Army, and the Woman’s Land Army urged Americans to express their loyalty by producing and conserving their own food. Hayden-Smith will also touch on how food is fundamental and vital to national security both historically and today. 

Please join us after the lecture for a book signing of Rose Hayden-Smith’s book Sowing the Seeds of Victory: American Gardening Programs of World War I.

This lecture is made possible by the generous support of the Ruby W. and LaVon P.  Linn Foundation and is part of the lecture series, “The U.S. Home Front during World War I: Duty Sacrifice, and Obligation.”