The Spanish Influenza in Worcestershire 1918-1920

spanish flu study day

On 5th April 2019, George Marshall Medical Museum hosted a study day about the Spanish Influenza Pandemic. Attended by over fifty participants, speakers included:

• Hannah Mawdsley, Acting Research Manager at Imperial War Museum, Hannah Mawdsley is working on a collaborative doctoral partnership scheme with Queen Mary and Imperial War Museum to investigate a huge cache of letters collected in the 1970s by the journalist and historian Richard Collier. You can listen to Hannah’s Apple podcast Going Viral: the Mother of All Pandemics at goingviralthepod.libsyn.com and she co-curated Florence Nightingale Museum’s Spanish Flu exhibition which opened on 20 September 2018.

• Professor Maggie Andrews a cultural historian whose work covers the social and cultural history of twentieth century Britain and the representation of that history within popular culture. A key focus of her research is domesticity and femininity. Her work around the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu Pandemic includes engaging resources including podcasts, films and an upcoming book in collaboration with History West Midlands.

• Laura Robson-Mainwaring, appointed as George Marshall Medical Museum’s Engagement Fellow to research Spanish Flu in Worcestershire and funded by the British Society for the History of Science. Laura is a PhD candidate reading about drug retailing in the 1800s and is Social Media Editor at the British Society for History of Medicine. You can download Laura’s completed research booklet “Worcestershire and the Spanish Flu” for free at medicalmuseum.org.uk/influenza100.

• Dr Emma Edwards, research scientist at the University of Worcester. Dr Emma Edwards’ research interests include viruses, allergens, and the function of the human immune system. Could a similar deadly pandemic happen again?

spanish flu podcast - history west midlands

Click here to be taken to the podcast recorded with Professor Maggie Andrews, Dr Emma Edwards and Curator Louise Price.

You can also purchase the book, written by Professor Andrews and Dr Edwards here.

SPANISH FLU RESEARCH BOOKLET

George Marshall Medical Museum (GMMM) is delighted to have hosted a British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) Engagement Fellowship during 2018. Supported by the BSHS, this project enabled us to work with a postgraduate student to carry out research into the Worcestershire story of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19, drawing on the unique collections at the museum and public archives.

Laura Robson-Mainwaring produced the final booklet, in collaboration with the Museum, and this is available for you to download free, here. Simply click here and a new window will open for your download (total 1.5MB).

This research booklet supports a touring exhibition from The Florence Nightingale Museum, who secured Wellcome Trust Funding for an exhibition and events programme about the Influenza Pandemic, in partnership with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Queen Mary University London. George Marshall Medical Museum will be hosting the touring exhibition about this project during 2019, and research and activities about this deadly pandemic will continue.

With further funding for engagement programmes from the BSHS, we have also created a KS2 workshop, called “Out do the Flu”. Please contact us to book this workshop.