Special Collections Stories
Documenting the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and COVID-19
Quarantine is nothing new to Indiana, Pennsylvania. More than a century ago, Indiana County suffered from the pandemic, which claimed the lives of millions of people worldwide. Indiana State Normal School (now IUP) was under quarantine in 1918 due to the Spanish Influenza. The photograph shows an Indiana Board of Health banner that was posted on the residence hall room of student Bertha Garee McLain, a 1919 graduate of the
Normal School.
The IUP Special Collections and University Archives contains many scrapbooks and other types of primary sources that chronicle historical events throughout IUP’s 150-year history. The Bertha Garee McLain scrapbook is located in Record Group 53, Box 38, which is part of the IUP Memorabilia and Ephemera Collection.
The IUP Special Collections and University Archives welcomes donations of all types of materials related to your experience during COVID-19. This can include correspondence, course assignments, documents, interviews, journaling, newspaper articles, personal reflections, photographs, press releases, scrapbooks, and social media. You are welcome to contact the Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist.
IUP Welcome Week Leaders,
Fall 2020