3. Mini-Episode - Dr. Loring Miner
In this mini-episode, we tell the story of Dr. Loring Miner, a physician in Haskell County in southwest Kansas who, in early 1918, may have encountered the first outbreak of the flu pandemic. Dr. Miner was a little different than the stereotypical country doctor. Dr. Miner was "gruff" and one who "didn't suffer fools," but he also was extremely dedicated to his practice, traveling over hundreds of square miles to attend to patients. He loved the classics and read the great works of Greek literature … in Greek! He embraced the germ theory of disease and built a home laboratory complete with a microscope. We'll hear from historian John Barry explain why Dr. Miner was such an unusual doctor given the state of medical education at the time.
Go Further
Curious about the sources we use and want to learn more about the topics, people, and places we discuss in this episode? Then this space is for you.
John Barry’s book: The Great influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, Penguin Books, 2004. Buy it from Amazon, or support local independent bookstores in Kansas by ordering it from one of them.
View a photo of Dr. Loring Miner.
Read Dr. Miner’s entry from “A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans,” by William E. Connelley (1919). [Note that Dr. Miner’s first name is misspelled as “Loren.'“]
learn more about the Flexner Report by reading “The Flexner Report - 100 Years Later” at the US National Library of Medicine website.