Exhibit details deadly 1918 flu pandemic

Docents dressed as nurses guided visitors around the Doctor’s House on Sunday and explored the new exhibit on the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.

Dozens of guests filed into rooms at the house and listened to docents speak about the pandemic, which killed more than 30 million people during World War I.

The exhibit also addressed the effect of the flu on residents of the house and the local community.

“We would like to increase awareness that this took place,” curator Isabelle Meyer said, adding that the 1918 flu is largely ignored in history.

As visitors walked into the house, three coffins stacked on top of one another stood in the parlor. The coffins, which were replicas of the ones used in 1918, were in such demand at the time that people would steal them, Meyer said.

Newspaper clippings from the Glendale Evening News were also on display in the parlor.

In November 1918, the newspaper obituaries reported that three residents died within 48 hours of contracting the influenza virus. In October of the same year, all Glendale schools closed but reopened at the end of November, according to the Glendale Evening News.

“The flu pandemic caused huge social problems,” Meyer told visitors. “There was so much social unrest.”

On Sunday, members of the Crescenta Valley Historical Society stopped by the house to view the exhibit.

La Crescenta resident and historical society member Vieve Metcalfe looked at newspaper clippings and photographs.

“I came expecting to see this wonderful house, but the surprise for me was this flu exhibit,” Metcalfe said. “I had no idea the kind of impact it had. It was a revelation for me.”

The exhibit included information about film pioneer Nell Shipman, who lived in the house from 1917 to 1920. Shipman and her mother, Rose Barham, both fell ill with the flu. Although Shipman recovered, her mother died in one of the upstairs bedrooms of the house.

A mannequin representing the figure of Shipman lay on the bed in the bedroom upstairs. Guests looked inside the room but were not allowed inside, because Shipman had been quarantined.

Visitor Artur Kasabyan of Glendale was unaware of the 1918 flu pandemic. Kasabyan didn’t know about it until he walked into the Doctor’s House to look around and stumbled on the exhibit.

“I got more interested in it as I continued on with the tour,” he said. “I was surprised how it affected so many people.”

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic exhibit will be on display through the end of May. The Doctor’s House in Brand Park is open from 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays.

For more information, call (818) 242-4290.