Content: family visits; grandchildren have whooping cough; Norman’s work on the farm; bovine mastitis in two cows; items sent to Lester: mended clothes, cookies, and sausage.
SCANS
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TRANSCRIPTION/ TRANSLATION
This is a character-by-character transcription of the original document written in Kurrent. It adheres to the spelling and line-spacing of the original.
- Characters in italics are written in Latin script in the original.
- Characters in square brackets [ ] have been added by the transcribers for better understanding of the text.
- A question mark in square brackets [?] indicates that the transcribers are not sure about the spelling of the preceding word.
English Translation: 1939-05-19
Words written in italics in this translation indicate English words written in Latin script in the original.
CONTEXT
Whooping Cough
Anna writes: “The little ones have whooping cough. The doctor affixed a sign. Now they can’t go to school.”
This refers to a common practice by health departments to affix a quarantine sign/card on a house where inhabitants have a communicable disease. See an example from the McPherson County (Kansas) Health Department that states:
“WHOOPING COUGH — Minimum quarantine period is six weeks. All members of the household, except those who have previously had the disease, included. No person 14 years of age or under will be permitted to attend school, church, or any other public gathering until 14 days after exposure.”
Similar quarantine practices were common for other communicable diseases. See this post by the Wisconsin Historical Society about “flu quarantine signs” used between 1918 and 1924:
