If you haven’t made an emergency trip to the University of Wisconsin Hospital yet, here’s a reason you should visit near there immediately.
Micaela Sullivan-Fowler, a university librarian, historian and curator, presents “Staggering Losses: World War 1 and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918″, located in Ebling Library’s Historical Reading Room through January 31st.
The exhibit features photos, newspapers, clinical tools and many other items to tell the story of the greatest enemy of WWI soldiers — illness, one that crossed borders and that neither side was a match for.
And yet war, ironically, was not considered the enemy of medicine but its teacher. It was with the war that doctors learned about shell shock, prosthetics and trauma. And to Sullivan Fowler, the present world would be nothing without its connections to these discoveries.
“Everything is connected in the world of health care and well-being,” Sullivan-Fowler said. “Especially in wartime and during a pandemic, as we can even see in very recent news with threats of a new flu strain in 2020.”
Staggering Losses tells the stories of soldiers and medical personnel as they battled with influenza, the impact of trench life and war-related injuries.
The exhibit offers a diverse reflection of Native American, Latino and African American experiences. Part of the exhibit focuses on UW-Madison’s own who lost their lives in the war.
“It had economic consequences, social consequences [and] political consequences. UW-Madison lost nearly over 80 students in 1918, to WWI or to the pandemic,” Sullivan-Fowler said.
Even after a century of change, Sullivan-Fowler’s collection paints an eerie and realistic picture of war and gruesome struggle. Yet it also stands to prove WWI was a foundation for the medical field, and likewise, the well-being of humanity.
“For all the grim, difficult material display in the exhibition, there is a tenor of resiliency, strength, and hope that is boundless,” said Sullivan-Fowler.
Staggering Losses at UW’s Ebling Library, within the Health Sciences Learning Center (HSLC) at 750 Highland Ave., is open Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on the weekend is exclusive to Wiscard holders. Sullivan-Fowler offers personalized tours (micaela.sullivan-fowler@wisc.
