The University rose to the challenge as it faced World War I and the 1918 pandemic, much as it has this past year.
“The History of our [University] during this period of time is so closely connected with that of the world. … Those clouds which were continually spreading and shutting off the light and happiness in which people lived finally completely hid the sun’s rays from us. We, too, had become embroiled in the gigantic struggle for humanity. We began to feel the gravity of the situation. … But we were called to give our services. And we gave!”
This quote from the 1919 Terra Mariae (TM) Yearbook School of Law (SOL) Senior Class History could easily be about the struggles and achievements of the last year as the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) community has faced the double pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice along with the rest of the world. But instead, the quote is referencing another set of crises that occurred a century ago: World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic.
UMB felt the effects of World War I acutely as men and women went into service, leaving a dearth of students and medical professionals. The 1919 yearbook presents a distressing example of shrinking class sizes:
When we [SOL Class of 1919] returned again to our Alma Mater, in the fall of 1918, the ten of us greeted each other with an anxious look. For our Class at this time had dwindled from 150 men down to ten!
Yet the University rose to the challenge, much as it has this past year. In June 1917, Dr. Archibald C. Harrison, School of Medicine (SOM) professor, formed Base Hospital 42. The hospital was staffed by local men, UMB graduates, and nurses from the University Hospital training school. Base Hospital 42, located in Bazoilles-sur-Meuse, France, treated 2,593 surgical and 4,559 medical cases.
UMB petitioned to have a Student Army Training Corps (S.A.T.C.) — a nationwide program to keep students in school by offering on-campus military training in addition to coursework.
Soon after the introduction of S.A.T.C., influenza arrived in Baltimore.
You can read more about UMB during World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic in the Spring 2021 issue of UMB’s CATALYST magazine.
The issue also highlights how students have received invaluable hands-on experience preparing COVID-19 vaccines and vaccinating patients at the SMC Campus Center as well as the important COVID-19 research being done across all of our schools. We also share the stories of our graduates, the first recipient of The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings ’76 Scholarship Endowment, the National Center for School Mental Health, and much more.