Do you have a family story or memory from the 1918–19 influenza pandemic in Philadelphia or the Philadelphia region?  

Send it to influenza1918@collegeofphysicians.org and we may include it in this virtual scrapbook.

If you have photographs of the people and places in the story that you’d like to share, or letters or other documents, please include them with your story. 

We are also interested in images of personal belongings or other artifacts passed down from the people in the story.

Thank you for sharing your story!

Story Guidelines

Stories can be any length, up to about 800 or 1,000 words maximum.

Please include complete names of all the people in the story and addresses in Philadelphia, if known (street names and neighborhoods are fine).  

Image Guidelines

Please send no more than five digital images total. 

Scan photographs or documents in color at 300 ppi.

If you do not have a scanner, please take a good-quality digital photograph or a cellphone snapshot of the item in good light. 

Take photographs of artifacts in good light, ideally against a plain background. 

Send digital images without reducing their size. 

Usage Information

By submitting your story and images, you are giving permission to the Mütter Museum to potentially use them on this website and/or in a digital interactive in the Spit Spreads Death exhibition that includes family stories.

Submission of a story does not guarantee inclusion on the website or interactive. 

The Museum may also use your story and images for social media posts to promote this website and the exhibition. Please tell us if you do not want your story or images used for social media.

Stories may be edited for length and clarity and images may be cropped or adjusted.

Marchers in Spit Spreads Death: The Parade, carrying names of pandemic victims, Philadelphia, September 28, 2019 

Photo: Tivern Turnbull