One hundred years ago in Kansas, November 12-30:

November 18, 1918

  • The Kansas State Teachers Assn. meetings at Wichita, Salina, Pittsburg and Topeka, scheduled for the last week in November, were cancelled because of the flu epidemic.

November 19, 1918

  • Kansas exceeded its $2,850,000 quota for the United War Work drive.

November 23, 1918

  • Poor ventilation and closed windows were blamed for a new outbreak of influenza.  Forty-three cases were reported at Topeka.
  • Kansas ranked fifth in War Savings stamps sales, with total purchases of $22,360,000, or $11.83 per capita.  The national average was $8.

November 26, 1918

  • Schools were being taught by correspondence in several western Kansas counties because of the flu epidemic.  Elkhart reported 200 cases and six deaths.

November 27, 1918

  • Ninety-five new cases of flu at Topeka resulted in a partial closing order.

 

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.