Research Collaboration:
Comparing Spanish Influenza and COVID 19 in Northfield
Introducing a new, stand-alone podcast episode comparing the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic and the COVID 19 pandemic as it
was experienced in Northfield. The episode is the result of a research collaboration in the fall of 2020 between NHS and two
Carleton College classes, the Historians For Hire and the Anthropology of Health and Illness.
The research teams were comprised of three students from the Historians For Hire seminar – KatieRose Kimball, Sasha Mothershead, and Lea
Winston – and three students from the Anthropology of Health and Illness class – Jakob Boeye, Marcella Lees, and Cas Roland. They spent the fall
term researching, interviewing, and evaluating life in the community amid our current pandemic. Over the term break at Christmas, all six
students came together to tell the stories of their research, ask questions of each other, and, ultimately, to create a podcast episode to
disseminate their research.
The 1918 Spanish Influenza Epidemic in Northfield
In the Fall of 2020, the Northfield Historical Society welcomed a
team of researchers from Carleton College’s Historians For
Hire. NHS wanted to learn how Northfield handled the 1918 Spanish
Flu Epidemic. We wanted to draw comparisons to the current
COVID-19 pandemic. KatieRose Kimball, Sasha Mothershead, and
Lea Winston were willing to research Northfield’s experience with
the epidemic. They looked at resources and themes playing out in
the public and on the two college campuses.
The Historians For Hire turned their body of research into a detailed
timeline that can be interactively explored. They also created a
thematic guide to answer the types of questions we had prior to
their project. Both finished products are available on this page as
well as citations and notes from the resources they used to create
these research tools.
Influenza Timeline
Timeline of the Spanish Flu in Northfield, 1918-1920
Q & A on the Spanish Influenza Epidemic
1918 Spanish Influenza In-Depth
Local Stories and References
1918-1920 Northfield Independent
COVID-19 in Northfield
ln the Fall of 2020, the Northfield Historical Society also
welcomed three researchers from the Anthropology of
Health and Illness class at Carleton College. We wanted to
focus on COVID-19 and draw comparisons to the 1918
Spanish Influenza outbreak. Jakob Boeye, Marcella Lees,
and Cas Roland researched how Northfielders were coping
with COVID-19 and how the pandemic was affecting their
lives. The students wrote formal papers on their topics and
held a final conference via Zoom to present their individual
research. The transcripts of two interviews with Northfield
Hospital and Clinics administrators conducted by Cas Roland
can be found here.
Interview with Dr. Jeffrey Meland