05/25/2021
By David Perry

Shawn Driscoll could have never predicted the storm forming around COVID-19, but the book he conceived and helped research, write and edit was right on time.

Driscoll, a 47-year-old UMass Lowell doctoral student in Global Studies, and fellow academic Linda Hixon published “The Grip: The Pandemic and a City Under Siege” (Dutcher and Ellsworth) in June 2020 as a look back at the 1918 influenza pandemic and its effects on Worcester, Massachusetts.

An adjunct faculty member in the History Department whose scholarship focuses on the 20th century, Driscoll spoke to us about his research and the lessons learned from the pandemic that swept the globe more than a century ago.

Q: “The Grip: The 1918 Pandemic and a City under Siege” couldn’t have been more timely. When did you decide to write this book, and why?

A: It’s an interesting journey. In the spring of 2018, my co-creator, Linda Hixon, was at the time an adjunct history professor at Worcester State University. She and I had an idea for a joint History/Biology class that dealt with the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. Sadly, WSU passed on the proposed class. We decided that it was too important to let go, so we came up with the idea to make this a book. We featured topics that focus on journalism, decedent affairs (registering the death, autopsy, funeral services and burial), nursing, social and cultural themes, and the tragic loss of life among the citizens of Worcester.

We had the intention of releasing the book by late 2019, but school — I started my doctoral studies at UML in fall 2018 — and other projects for Linda kept us both busy. In January 2020, we pushed forward and envisioned a summer 2020 printing. Little did we know two months later we would be in the throes of another global pandemic. We knew the book would land differently, and in many ways it became even more timely than if we were to release it on the anniversary of the 1918 pandemic.

Q: Where did the title come from?

A: We titled the book “The Grip” to highlight both the name the influenza was commonly referred to (“the grippe”) and the large and terrible “grip” in which the disease held Worcester, the nation and the world.

Q: What precisely was your role in the book?

A: As co-creator, I worked with Linda to create the general building blocks of the book. This included large portions of research, chapter creation and guidance for our chapter writers. I was happy and honored to contribute one of the chapters, focusing on the social and cultural aspects of how the pandemic hit the city.

One of my primary roles was the creation of two specific chapters, writing one of them and providing mini-biographies of Worcester citizens who perished from influenza. We enlisted about 20 high school students from the Worcester Public School system and from Worcester Academy to research these citizens and write their stories, giving life to the men, women and children who fell victim to the pandemic. It was a singular joy to work with these students and guide them in their journey of research and writing.

Q: Why did you choose to focus on Worcester?

A: One of the most interesting facts about the scholarship surrounding the 1918 pandemic is that there has never been a book that focuses on a particular city. Other books take a more global look, and some focus on specific towns. No book had ever shined a light on how a large city — in the case of Worcester, one of the largest in New England — dealt with this specific pandemic.

Additionally, Worcester at the time was a largely industrial city and home to a large immigrant population, specifically French Canadian and Swedish. Worcester has always lived in the shadow of its larger brother to the east, Boston. While Boston is grand and historic, Worcester is as well, and more than deserving of its history being examined and presented.

Q: How did Worcester handle the pandemic of 1918?

A: Several years of requests (in 1915, 1916 and 1917) to expand hospital care were denied. When the pandemic hit and hospitals were quickly overflowing, local private businesses funded and built hospitals to handle those stricken with influenza. Businesses, stores, bars and movie houses were either reluctant to or downright refused to close. Interestingly, to keep their congregations in continuous attendance, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish religious leaders joined forces to keep their respective churches and temples open to the public. They did this with full knowledge that large mass gatherings were spreaders of influenza.

In 1918, Worcester remained largely closed for only two weeks, with most churches, businesses and schools opened fully. Ultimately, Worcester’s decisions were guided by those of Boston and Cambridge.

Q: How are the two pandemics different?

A: The biggest and most notable difference is technology. During the COVID pandemic, having things like Facetime, Zoom, Webex and other outlets made connectivity easier. On the flip side, technology also presents a realization that physical connection is limited or, in many cases, lost. There was in 1918, as there is in 2020-2021, the very real battle between extroverts and introverts. A pandemic feeds and starves both mindsets.

Another very important difference is found in obtaining and reporting the statistical data surrounding the pandemic. In 1918, we know very little real-time information on where and whom this pandemic was affecting. In 2020-2021, with real-time data from the Centers for Disease Control, Johns Hopkins University and both federal and state data, we can track the progression and the battling of the pandemic.

Q: Did we learn from the 1918 pandemic, and if so, did we apply what we learned to the COVID-19 pandemic?

A: Sure. Have we, as global citizens, been able to apply this knowledge and prevent the same mistakes? Not fully. The arguments for and against things like masks, social distancing, closure of gathering places and even general hygiene are still there. Possibly, they will be there in the unfortunate instance of another pandemic. Historians have the duty and responsibility to continuously examine and comment on past events. They help to provide new perspectives and inspire new generations of researchers and historians to investigate the past.