Ace Louise Brooks researcher Philip Vorwald provided some additional information about Louise Brooks' mystery illness, as referenced in the previous LBS blog, "Louise Brooks and the Coronavirus of 1918." (See update below.)
In that blog, I described the Spanish Flu which ravaged the United States at the end of WWI, adding "Wherever this strain of influenza came from, it effected everyday life and must have been on everyone's mind, even little Louise Brooks, who was born in Cherryvale, Kansas in 1906. By all accounts, she was a healthy child, but on November 29, 1917 the Cherryvale Republican newspaper reported that Brooks had been out of school for more than a month due to illness. The nature of her illness is not known, though given the historical context, one might suspect a serious case of the flu."
In the previous blog, I also supplied the clipping from the Cherryvale newspaper, which actually ran twice, the first time on November 23, and the second time on November 29. The wording on each news bit was the same, even down to Louise's expected "return next Monday." The November 23rd clipping is shown below.
Philip Vorwald emailed with some additional details, including scans of Louise's report card from the time. Of course, they don't tell us from what the 11 year old suffered - scarlet fever has also been suggested - but they do show just how long Louise was out of school.
Philip wrote, "After I read your blog today, I went back to her report cards from elementary school in Cherryvale, and found the absent days in sixth grade, 1917-1918....
There are six "six week" periods of the 1917-1918 school year. Louise's report card shows her completely missing the "2nd" six week school period; no grades at all. Curiously, no absent days are recorded either though. If the "1st" six week period began at the beginning of September, then this missing "2nd" period would have begun in the third week of October, 1917, and run through November, which now matches the November 29 description of five weeks, and back to school."
Whatever caused Louise to be out of school for so long is uncertain, but it must have been worrisome for her parents. The Brooks family left Cherryvale for Independence in the summer of 1918. The Independence newspaper reported that Louise enrolled in school on September 8, 1918. (For more on LB's daily life at the time, see "Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1939 part 1" on the Louise Brooks Society website.)
Despite a sense of normalcy, the flu effected daily life throughout much of 1918 and into 1919. Articles like this appeared in the local newspaper.
In that blog, I described the Spanish Flu which ravaged the United States at the end of WWI, adding "Wherever this strain of influenza came from, it effected everyday life and must have been on everyone's mind, even little Louise Brooks, who was born in Cherryvale, Kansas in 1906. By all accounts, she was a healthy child, but on November 29, 1917 the Cherryvale Republican newspaper reported that Brooks had been out of school for more than a month due to illness. The nature of her illness is not known, though given the historical context, one might suspect a serious case of the flu."
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| Garfield school building in 1913 |
In the previous blog, I also supplied the clipping from the Cherryvale newspaper, which actually ran twice, the first time on November 23, and the second time on November 29. The wording on each news bit was the same, even down to Louise's expected "return next Monday." The November 23rd clipping is shown below.
Philip Vorwald emailed with some additional details, including scans of Louise's report card from the time. Of course, they don't tell us from what the 11 year old suffered - scarlet fever has also been suggested - but they do show just how long Louise was out of school.
Philip wrote, "After I read your blog today, I went back to her report cards from elementary school in Cherryvale, and found the absent days in sixth grade, 1917-1918....
There are six "six week" periods of the 1917-1918 school year. Louise's report card shows her completely missing the "2nd" six week school period; no grades at all. Curiously, no absent days are recorded either though. If the "1st" six week period began at the beginning of September, then this missing "2nd" period would have begun in the third week of October, 1917, and run through November, which now matches the November 29 description of five weeks, and back to school."
Whatever caused Louise to be out of school for so long is uncertain, but it must have been worrisome for her parents. The Brooks family left Cherryvale for Independence in the summer of 1918. The Independence newspaper reported that Louise enrolled in school on September 8, 1918. (For more on LB's daily life at the time, see "Louise Brooks: Day by Day 1906-1939 part 1" on the Louise Brooks Society website.)
Despite a sense of normalcy, the flu effected daily life throughout much of 1918 and into 1919. Articles like this appeared in the local newspaper.
UPDATE: Documentary filmmaker Charlotte Siller has identified the illness which led to Louise Brooks missing school as typhoid fever.
Want to know how the Spanish Flu effected your hometown in 1918? If you have access to newspapers.com or newspaperarchive.com, or if your local library has digital access to the later, or a run of your local newspaper from the time - try doing a search using the year 1918 and the keyword "influenza."
Want to know how the Spanish Flu effected your hometown in 1918? If you have access to newspapers.com or newspaperarchive.com, or if your local library has digital access to the later, or a run of your local newspaper from the time - try doing a search using the year 1918 and the keyword "influenza."
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