Start Date
18-11-2020 1:30 PM
End Date
18-11-2020 3:00 PM
Type of Work
Poster
Description
Introduction/background: This project seeks to record stories of individuals who survived polio in the 1940s and 1950s in order to capture a unique moment in history, both in how polio impacted society- uniquely and similar to other disease outbreaks, and how individuals with polio negotiated their polio identity and told their story (or remembered through stories told by others).
For the former, infectious diseases can have a tremendous impact on culture, psychology, and the physical structure of society during the course of outbreaks and epidemics. Indeed the form of response often is similar from outbreak to outbreak, as people respond with fear to drastic and devastating changes to the social fabric. Much of this impact, however, can quickly be lost when the epidemic is over and life returns to normal. Even if it is a new normal, the response is to find stability and stories of life with the threat of disease fade from public consciousness. The concerns are that lessons are never remembered and the fear and panic from past epidemics can be repeated. This Polio story project aims to capture the experience of individuals and a society of a lost time, when polio instilled fear in families every summer in the early to mid-20th century. The story is unique in some ways to the biology of polio and the culture of the time, but also part of an old story of human fear and panic.
In addition, stories of people who survived polio lived through the collective experience and confronted the life changes that polio caused for them. Telling their story provided an opportunity to take control of who they were or who they became, and to write and rewrite stories of trauma. For many polio survivors, that story also involved navigating a world of physical barriers and advocating for inclusion and accessibility.
Objectives: The project represents a library outreach role in developing projects that capture history through oral history, recording stories of illness- in this case, polio. The UF Health Science Center Library historian worked with a Post Polio group in North Central Florida to connect with polio survivors and develop a collection of stories of personal experience, transcribed by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. These stories will become part of the University of Florida’s Digital Collection on the Proctor Oral History Program site, and made available through the UFDC webpage. The library’s engagement in the project also includes publication of a unique manuscript, through the UF Library Press and promotion of a video oral history, with plans to find funding for more videos.
Methods: This presentation discusses a UF library outreach project to capture stories of polio from people who were children in the 1940s and 1950s, and it includes conducting oral histories, preserving those stories and making them accessible, and working to publish manuscript material capturing experiences with polio. Oral history interviews were and still are being scheduled and recorded. The Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida, through a publication decision made by the UF Library Press, also published the daily journal kept by Lassie Goodbread Black, mother of polio survivor Edna Black Hindson that detailed Edna’s daily experiences as she recovered and lived with outcomes of paralytic polio.
Results: The efforts to create a polio oral history project at the University of Florida, includes identifying interested individuals, conducting interviews, transcribing materials, creating long term storage for the collection, finding other means to highlight stories and provide materials for understanding the impact of polio and other infectious diseases. The published book of Enda Black Hindson’s experience with polio is available as a pdf at https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00069222/00001 A print copy of the book can be purchased at https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9781944455095 . A video interview with polio survivor, author, former NPR commentator and publisher, Shelley Fraser Mickle can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfy4XUTW9SU Transcripts of other interviews will be posted to the UFDC as they become available and as more interviews are completed.
Conclusions: Polio certainly impacted thousands when it was epidemic in the United States. An estimated 35,000 people were paralyzed each year in the 1940s. In 1952, an estimated 60,000 were infected, with more than 3,000 deaths. In terms of sheer numbers, it affected fewer people than tuberculosis or cancer. In terms of the fear it created, and the impact it had on society, it was unprecedented. Although adults could be affected, the fact that it struck many children, leaving those who survived paralyzed to a greater or lesser degree, mobilized the nation, leading to publicly funded research initiatives, and an invigorated movement to provide equal rights and access for those with disabilities. Caring for survivors impacted society; but survivors themselves worked to transform their world- leaving stories of struggle and triumph. The story of Edna Hindson’s experience, told in a unique way, helps to bring back an understanding of the disease’s impact. Infectious disease outbreaks have shaped human history, just as those impacts, or at least the psychological impacts of living with fear and uncertainty of disease spread are quickly forgotten. This project highlights the impact of one particular disease, polio, in the South through the words of survivors. The role and neutrality of a library facilitate outreach and connection with individuals who wish to share their stories.
Library engagement in exploring stories of polio survivors in North Central Florida
Introduction/background: This project seeks to record stories of individuals who survived polio in the 1940s and 1950s in order to capture a unique moment in history, both in how polio impacted society- uniquely and similar to other disease outbreaks, and how individuals with polio negotiated their polio identity and told their story (or remembered through stories told by others).
For the former, infectious diseases can have a tremendous impact on culture, psychology, and the physical structure of society during the course of outbreaks and epidemics. Indeed the form of response often is similar from outbreak to outbreak, as people respond with fear to drastic and devastating changes to the social fabric. Much of this impact, however, can quickly be lost when the epidemic is over and life returns to normal. Even if it is a new normal, the response is to find stability and stories of life with the threat of disease fade from public consciousness. The concerns are that lessons are never remembered and the fear and panic from past epidemics can be repeated. This Polio story project aims to capture the experience of individuals and a society of a lost time, when polio instilled fear in families every summer in the early to mid-20th century. The story is unique in some ways to the biology of polio and the culture of the time, but also part of an old story of human fear and panic.
In addition, stories of people who survived polio lived through the collective experience and confronted the life changes that polio caused for them. Telling their story provided an opportunity to take control of who they were or who they became, and to write and rewrite stories of trauma. For many polio survivors, that story also involved navigating a world of physical barriers and advocating for inclusion and accessibility.
Objectives: The project represents a library outreach role in developing projects that capture history through oral history, recording stories of illness- in this case, polio. The UF Health Science Center Library historian worked with a Post Polio group in North Central Florida to connect with polio survivors and develop a collection of stories of personal experience, transcribed by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. These stories will become part of the University of Florida’s Digital Collection on the Proctor Oral History Program site, and made available through the UFDC webpage. The library’s engagement in the project also includes publication of a unique manuscript, through the UF Library Press and promotion of a video oral history, with plans to find funding for more videos.
Methods: This presentation discusses a UF library outreach project to capture stories of polio from people who were children in the 1940s and 1950s, and it includes conducting oral histories, preserving those stories and making them accessible, and working to publish manuscript material capturing experiences with polio. Oral history interviews were and still are being scheduled and recorded. The Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida, through a publication decision made by the UF Library Press, also published the daily journal kept by Lassie Goodbread Black, mother of polio survivor Edna Black Hindson that detailed Edna’s daily experiences as she recovered and lived with outcomes of paralytic polio.
Results: The efforts to create a polio oral history project at the University of Florida, includes identifying interested individuals, conducting interviews, transcribing materials, creating long term storage for the collection, finding other means to highlight stories and provide materials for understanding the impact of polio and other infectious diseases. The published book of Enda Black Hindson’s experience with polio is available as a pdf at https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00069222/00001 A print copy of the book can be purchased at https://upf.com/book.asp?id=9781944455095 . A video interview with polio survivor, author, former NPR commentator and publisher, Shelley Fraser Mickle can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfy4XUTW9SU Transcripts of other interviews will be posted to the UFDC as they become available and as more interviews are completed.
Conclusions: Polio certainly impacted thousands when it was epidemic in the United States. An estimated 35,000 people were paralyzed each year in the 1940s. In 1952, an estimated 60,000 were infected, with more than 3,000 deaths. In terms of sheer numbers, it affected fewer people than tuberculosis or cancer. In terms of the fear it created, and the impact it had on society, it was unprecedented. Although adults could be affected, the fact that it struck many children, leaving those who survived paralyzed to a greater or lesser degree, mobilized the nation, leading to publicly funded research initiatives, and an invigorated movement to provide equal rights and access for those with disabilities. Caring for survivors impacted society; but survivors themselves worked to transform their world- leaving stories of struggle and triumph. The story of Edna Hindson’s experience, told in a unique way, helps to bring back an understanding of the disease’s impact. Infectious disease outbreaks have shaped human history, just as those impacts, or at least the psychological impacts of living with fear and uncertainty of disease spread are quickly forgotten. This project highlights the impact of one particular disease, polio, in the South through the words of survivors. The role and neutrality of a library facilitate outreach and connection with individuals who wish to share their stories.