Today in Cluster History

Tarver Library recently digitized old editions of The Cluster, dating from 1920 to 1970. It is a great resource for discovering the history of Mercer from the eyes if its past students.
On this day in 1945, the Cluster ran a story covering a flu outbreak on Mercer’s campus. The story, entitled “Sickness Prevails” originally ran on pages two and four in the Nov. 28, 1945 issue of the Cluster.
The story details one person’s experience as they called the nurses office repeatedly, seeking advice as more and more sick people came to the writer for help. The writer was in Roberts Hall while this was taking place and was waiting for a doctor to arrive to assist prescribing medicine to deal with the flu outbreak.
One name that is mentioned numerous times in the article is Mrs. Nickerson, a nurse the writer made several calls to while attempting to care for the residents of Roberts Hall that suffered from the outbreak.
The story gives details as to how Mrs. Nickerson eventually came over to Roberts Hall and set up room five as a sick room for the residents. According to the writer, Mrs. Nickerson declared the epidemic “conquered” the Thursday after that day. The article ended with the writer mentioning that they made a call home and the operator connected them to the nurse again, assuming that someone else was sick.
Many of the Cluster’s older stories are now available digitally in the Cluster’s online archives. The archives go back as far as 1920, the year the Cluster began circulation.
The archives are available online for anyone with an interest in them to access. The archives currently go from 1920 to 1970. Current issues of the Cluster are viewable on its main website, and print copies are available around campus. To view other old issues of The Cluster, visit http://mercercluster.galileo.usg.edu/mercercluster/search.