Photo by Kate Patrick
On Thursday, Feb. 12, the Bryant Historical Society will host a program on the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
The program is to be presented at the Mabel Boswell Memorial Library on Prickett Road in Bryant at 6:30 p.m., by Lauren Jarvis of the Arkansas History Commission.
The program titled “In the ‘Grippe’ of Influenza: Arkansas and the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-1919” will center on the state’s experiences with one of the deadliest epidemics in history. Appearing at the end of World War I, the ‘Spanish’ flu killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.
This program will focus on Arkansas’s story, exploring the local officials’ response to the disease and the impact the epidemic had on local communities, as well as how to find resources and information on the subject.
Jarvis is an archivist with the Arkansas History Commission. She has a B.A. in History from Arkansas State University and is pursuing a master’s degree in Public History from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Prior to joining the History Commission in 2008, she worked as a graduate assistant at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. She currently serves as Membership Director for the Arkansas Museums Association and is a board member for the Arkansas Genealogical Society.
