In September 1908, Allie Helena Barnett left her family in Atchison, Kansas, and traveled to Carson City, Nevada, where she […]
A Complete Halt to the Liquor Traffic: Drink and Disease in the 1918 Epidemic
When the annual Pennsylvania convention of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) began on October 4, 1918, delegates “rejoiced” that […]
Living in Isolation and Connecting through Reading, 1930–1946
Amid all the dramatic headlines about COVID-19, news stories describe how people now share anniversaries, birthdays, and other occasions with […]
Writing Histories of Intimate Care and Social Distancing in the Age of COVID-19
In hindsight, it was probably a touch of grad school-induced hubris that led me to assert, in an early draft […]
The Vaccine at the End of this Pandemic
In the summer of 1952, parents didn’t let their children visit playgrounds, swimming pools were closed, movie theaters shuttered, and […]
Art as a Tonic: Making Pottery and Defeating Tuberculosis at the Arequipa Sanatorium
In the spring of 1913 journalist Elise Roorbach was walking around downtown San Francisco when she passed a gift store. […]
Luxury or Right? Artificial Insemination by Donor in 1970s France
Hungary recently made international headlines by announcing that the state would soon cover the cost of IVF treatments. Along with […]
Training Future Wives and Mothers: Vocational Education and Assimilation at the Stewart Indian School
In 1879, the US government launched an expansive effort to restructure Indigenous lives by enrolling Native American children in off-reservation […]
The Lone Woman of Kokura
She was alone. The men and women of the domain were all gone. In their flight, they’d set the castle […]
Joking in the Time of Pandemic: The 1889–92 Flu and 2020 COVID-19
As we see with COVID-19, the darkest periods in history expose the best — and worst — of humanity. Some […]
