Revolutions? Insurgencies? Pandemics? All of these were happening around the globe in the time between 1918 - 1935. And much of it was reported in the newspaper.
Over the past ten years as Upper School Librarian, I have worked with the 10th grade history classes to research the time between World War I and World War II. Sometimes called the "Interwar Years," sometimes called the "Age of Anxiety," the focus has always been on the impact the war had on art, politics, thought, and innovation between 1918 - 1935. Students have so many directions they can take their research, and suffice it to say, many of those shifts are worth revisiting. The students and I are always discovering new things.
Six years ago, the BBC began the WWI Centenary by highlighting stories and documents online about ways World War One impacted England and Ireland. This resource, called "World War One at Home" continues to be useful, but so too are the databases to which we subscribe.
Revolutions? Insurgencies? Pandemics? All of these were happening around the globe in the time between 1918 - 1935. And much of it was reported in the newspaper. This year, Upper School students have full online access to The New York Times, but we also have a searchable database of newspapers through ProQuest. In fact, while working with a student today, she and I found an October 1918 article from the LA Times reporting, "Influenza Advice: New York Health Commissioner Says It's Better to Keep the Schools Open."
Our ProQuest Historical Newspapers database provides articles from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. (A tutorial video about this database which I shared with students on the Interwar Years LibGuide is at the bottom of this post.) By narrowing the dates and browsing the related articles, she and I found more than enough to make connections between the current pandemic response and the one 100 years ago. (Sadly, articles about forced school closures due to the influenza continue through to January 1933.)
How does one live through a pandemic or mobs or fascists? I don't really know. But, these articles show us it has been done before.
How does one live through a pandemic or mobs or fascists? I don't really know. But, these newspaper articles show us it can be lived through. In the midst of reporting chaos, they also report a glimmer of hope, because we are on the other side of that story. As we live through our own current and collective history making experiences, perhaps the study of the Interwar "Age of Anxiety," can provide some comfort-- or at least some wisdom.