When studying history, it is human nature to look for the similarities in past events; something that links us to our predecessors, anything that would make us feel less alone. Just over a hundred years ago, residents of Keene probably looked to the past for help understanding as they struggled with the ravages of Spanish Influenza, just as we now look back as we grapple with the effects of COVID-19. Then, just like now, students attending Keene Normal School (now KSC) were forced to deal with the reality of an insidious sickness that infiltrated all corners of the country. Keene businesses closed their doors, churches halted worship meetings, and students exposed to illness were sent home. The Elliot Center, then Elliot Hospital, as well as part of Fiske Hall served as hospitals for Keene residents infected with the flu; over eight-hundred residents battled the illness when all was said and done.[1]
The events of 1918 show us that eventually this will all be something that happened in a distant past. Students came back, businesses reopened, and life returned to “normal”. The goal in writing this is not to downplay the impact COVID-19 will have on Keene State College, and more broadly on humanity as a whole. The goal instead is to show that decades ago, students in Keene struggled with similar unknowns as we do today. As a community, we have an obligation to Keene State a hundred years from now to preserve the impact this pandemic had on our lives so perhaps students in the future can look to us as an example and know they are linked to us as well.
[1] Lois Corcoran, “Great Influenza epidemic swept through Keene a century ago,” The Keene Sentinel, September 10, 2018, https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/great-influenza-epidemic-swept-through-keene-a-century-ago/article_4d8da69d-881d-5693-8a80-e1edaf4396ad.html (accessed April 2, 2020).
Keene Observation Archive 