Oral History: Victoria Gillies The Spanish Flu in North Dakota Unit 5 North Dakota History Primary Sources State Historical Society of North Dakota/title>   <meta name="Description" content="Oral History: Victoria Gillies The Spanish Flu in North Dakota Unit 5 North Dakota History Primary Sources State Historical Society of North Dakota" />   <meta name="Keywords" content="Oral History Victoria Gillies The Spanish Flu in North Dakota Unit 5 North Dakota History Primary Sources State Historical Society of North Dakota" />  <link href="/css/histLayout.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script src="/Scripts/AC_RunActiveContent.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/SpryAssets/SpryMenuBar.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <link href="/SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarVertical.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="/SpryAssets/SpryMenuBarHorizontal.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />  </head> <body> <link href="/css/histLayout.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <div id="discover"> <div class="ndgovLogo"><a href="http://www.nd.gov"><img src="/images/ndgov-banner.gif" alt="go to ND gov home page" border="0" /></a></div> <div class="tourismLogo"><a href="http://www.ndtourism.com/"><img src="/images/tourism-banner-blue.gif" alt="go to nd tourism legendary home page" border="0" /></a></div> </div> <div id="wrapperRtCol"><link href="/css/histLayout.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <div id="banner"> <div id="bannerLogoLink"><a href="/index.html"><img src="/images/indexLogoBannerLink.jpg" alt="SHSND home page link" border="0"/></a></div> <div id="bannerTopLinks"><a href="/index.html">Home </a> | <a href="/aboutus.html">About Us</a> | <a href="/data/contactus.html">Contact Us</a> | <a href="/donate.html">Donate</a> | <a href="/data/enews_signupform.html">Sign up e-news</a> </div> <div class="clearRight"></div> <div id="search"> <form action="http://www.history.nd.gov/search.html" id="cse-search-box"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="011640572701877941005:vnavanhpdj4" /> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:11" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8" /> <label for="searchBox">Search</label> <input type="text" name="q" id="searchBox" size="31" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> </div> </form> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en"></script>  </div></div> <div id="bannernav"> <ul><li><a href="/archives/index.html">ARCHIVES</a></li ><li><a href="/educators.html">EDUCATION</a></li ><li><a href="/exhibits/index.html">EXHIBITS</a></li ><li><a href="/events/index.html">EVENTS</a></li ><li><a href="/hp/index.html">HISTORIC PRESERVATION</a></li ><li><a href="/historicsites/index.html">HISTORIC SITES</a></li ><li><a href="/publications/index.html">PUBLICATIONS</a></li ><li><a href="/museumStore/default.asp">SHOP</a></li > </ul></div> <div id="crumbNav"> <a href="/index.html">SHSND Home</a> > <a href="/textbook/index.html">North Dakota History</a> > <a href="/textbook/unit5intro.html">Unit 5: Modernizing North Dakota 1914-1929</a> > <a href="/textbook/unit5_4_intro_flu.html">The Spanish Flu in North Dakota</a> > Oral History: Gillies </div> <div id="level3RtCol"> <ul id="i" class="MenuBarVertical"> <li><a href="/textbook/unit1intro.html" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Unit 1 - the natural world</a> <ul> <li><a href="/textbook/unit1_1intro.html">the natural world</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit1_natworld/unit1_2_intro.html">mapping the land & its people</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit1_natworld/unit1_3_intro.html">ancient villages</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit2intro.html" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Unit 2 - life on the northern plains Before 1800</a> <ul> <li><a href="/textbook/unit2_1_intro.html">people of the upper missouri online exhibit</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit2_2_verendryeintro.html">la verendrye visits the mandan</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit2_3_docsintro.html">the little river women society</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit3intro.html" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Unit 3 - commerce, culture, & conflict 1800 – 1878</a> <ul> <li><a href="/textbook/unit3_1_doc_set_intro.html">winter counts</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit3_2_intro.html">creating dakota territory</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit3_3_intro_armedcon.html">armed conflict</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit3_comculcon/unit3_4_frontierscout.html">frontier scout</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit3_comculcon/unit3_5_intro.html">fred gerard & the fur trade</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit3_comculcon/unit3_6intro.html">gardens at frontier military posts 1864 – 1880</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit4intro.html" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Unit 4 - building a new state 1878 – 1914</a> <ul> <li><a href="/textbook/unit4_1_suffrage_intro.html">woman suffrage at statehood</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit4_2_farming_intro.html">pioneer farms</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit4_3_intro_ranching.html">ranching</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit4_4_indian_fair_intro.html">fort berthold indian fair 1911</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit4_newstate/unit4_5_intro.html">the private lives of teenagers</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit5intro.html" class="MenuBarItemSubmenu">Unit 5 - modernizing north dakota 1914 – 1929</a> <ul> <li><a href="/textbook/unit5_1_intro_ww1.html">the great war, a photo essay</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit5_2_ap_reportsintro.html">news reports of the great war, 1917</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit5_3_halverson_intro.html">leila halverson goes to war</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit5_4_intro_flu.html">the spanish flu in north dakota</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit5_5_townlife_intro.html">town life in north dakota - 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uss north dakota</a> <ul> <li><a href="/textbook/unit8_ussnd/unit8_1_intro.html">4th grade lesson</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit8_ussnd/unit8_2_intro.html">8th grade lesson</a></li> <li><a href="/textbook/unit8_ussnd/unit8_3_abgintro.html">high school lesson</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> <div id="leftcol"> <div id="titleBox"> <h1>Unit 5: Set 4. The Spanish Flu in North Dakota - Oral History: Gillies</h1> </div> <div id="level3MainContent">  <p><a href="/textbook/unit5_4_intro_flu.html">Introduction</a> | <a href="/textbook/unit5_4_stats_intro.html">Government Records</a> | <a href="/textbook/unit5_4_health_reports.html">State Health Reports</a> | Oral History: Gillies | <a href="/textbook/unit5_4_activity.html">Activity</a></p> <p align="center"><strong>Oral History: Victoria Gillies Remembers the Spanish Flu Epidemic</strong></p> <p>Victoria Gillies came down with the Spanish flu in April 1918. She was not quite three years old. As she explained to an interviewer in 1988, her father was sick with the flu and she stayed by his side and became ill as well. Her father died, but with the help of an overworked physician, Victoria survived. No one else in her family got sick because they all left the house to avoid the disease. She described the flu as being like a cold, but worse because the patient could not breathe from the fluid accumulating in the lungs. Death came by suffocation.</p> <p>In the first excerpt from a twenty minute recorded interview, Gillies describes the impact of the flu on her rural Bottineau community. The second excerpt tells of Dr. Johnson’s efforts to treat people scattered throughout the Turtle Mountains from Bottineau to Dunseith.</p> <p><strong> SHDND MSS 10754</strong></p> <p><em>[Interview from audio cassette 2097. Marker 144-158, title: “Victoria Gillies discusses the impact of the flu”. Marker 104 – 117, title: “Dr. Johnson’s effort to deal with the epidemic”]</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="clearIt"></div> <div id="midNav"> <ul class="mn"> <li><a href="http://www.statehistoricalfoundation.com/">Support Us</a></li> <li><a href="/facilityrental.html">Facility Rental</a></li> <li><a href="/volunteers.html">Volunteer</a></li> <li><a href="/donate.html">Donate</a></li> <li><a href="/pressroom/index.html">Press Room</a></li> <li><a href="/mediaroom/index.html">Media Room / RSS Feeds <img src="/images/feed-icon-14x14.jpg" alt="subscribe icon" border="0px" /></a></li> <li><a href="/inquiries/museumhelp.html">FAQs</a></li> </ul> <ul class="soc"> <li><a href="http://www.facebook.com/northdakotahistory" target="_blank"><img src="/images/facebookIcon.png" alt="Find us on Facebook" title="Find us on Facebook" width="16" height="16" border="0" /></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/northdakotahistory/" target="_blank"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/g/images/goodies/white-large-chiclet.png" width="16" height="16" alt="Find us on Flickr" title="Find us on Flickr" border="0" /></a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/ndhistory" target="_blank"><img src="/images/twitterIcon.png" alt="Find us on Twitter" title="Find us on Twitter" width="16" height="16" border="0" /></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/SHSND" target="_blank"><img src="//s.ytimg.com/yt/img/creators_corner/YouTube/youtube_32x32.png" alt="Find us on YouTube" title="Find us on YouTube" border="0" width="16" height="16" /></a></li> <li><a href="http://pinterest.com/ndhistory/" target="_blank"><img src="/images/pinterestIcon.png" alt="Find us on Pinterest" title="Find us on Pinterest" width="16" height="16" border="0" /></a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="infoContent"> <div id="featContent1"> <p><strong>Address:</strong><br /> 612 East Boulevard Ave.<br /> Bismarck, North Dakota 58505<br /> <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=State+Historical+Society+of+ND&sll=34.452218,-84.726562&sspn=56.857178,105.46875&ie=UTF8&ll=46.8191,-100.780705&spn=0.002951,0.006437&t=h&z=18">Get Directions</a></p> </div> <div id="featContent2"> <p><strong>Hours:</strong><br /> Museum Store: 8am - 5pm M-F; Sat. & Sun. 10am - 5pm. <br /> State Archives: 8am - 4:30pm., M-F, except legal holidays, and 2nd Sat. of each month, 10am - 4:30 pm.<br /> State Historical Society offices: 8am - 5pm M-F, except legal holidays.</p> </div> <div id="featContent3"> <p><strong>Contact Us:</strong><br /> phone: (701) 328-2666<br /> fax: (701) 328-3710<br /> email: <a href="mailto:histsoc@nd.gov">histsoc@nd.gov</a></p></div> </div> <div class="clearIt"></div> <div id="footer"> <p>©2013 State Historical Society of North Dakota</p> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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