By Olivia Yepez
A ghostly figure clutches ghastly tendrils, reaching to an infected city below. “CHINA TOWN” declares the label, in bold black letters.
The cartoon feels familiar… except the year is 1882, and Chinese immigrants are being blamed (incorrectly) for spreading malaria, smallpox and leprosy, not COVID-19.
“History always repeats itself,” says Becca Safi, a student-curator of Piety and Plague: Communal Response to Epidemics, an exhibit that runs through Dec. 22, 2021, at Drew University in Madison.
The exhibit explores disease responses past and present. There are medieval manuscripts detailing plague, prayer cards to patron saints, recipes for herbal remedies, and pamphlets.
It aims to show how the current pandemic is “not an anomaly,” in the greater scheme of history, according to the Drew Methodist Archive’s virtual platform.
“We’re not looking at how vaccines are made, or how to stop being sick, but rather how people culturally responded,” said co-curator Candace Reilly, standing amidst the display cases on a Friday afternoon in November.
Next to the 19th century political cartoon were screenshots of news headlines, reporting anti-Asian sentiment and hate crimes in the United States linked to the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020.
A timeline of epidemics stretched back to 165-180 BCE, when the Antonine Plague killed 5 million people and spurred a communal religious response.
COVID-19 has killed 7 million people worldwide so far, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The exhibition focuses on religious responses, medical responses, and public fears and anxieties.
It wasn’t long ago when Catholic prayer cards and statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, on display at Drew, were the public’s only hope against plagues. During COVID, some of the faithful have re-appropriated Saint Corona, patron saint of gamblers and treasure hunters, as patron saint of pandemics.
A 1736 pamphlet entitled A Sermon Against the Dangerous and Sinful Practice of Inoculation presaged today’s anti-vaccination sentiments.
Medical responses have included healing herbs, such as the purple pitcher plant. The exhibition also has information on vaccines and government programs in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s.
Another display examines pandemic prejudices. Reilly hopes it will foster a better understanding of what’s happening today.
“It’s helpful to see how our time fits into the entirety of humanity’s history,” she said.
Piety and Plague opened in August and continues for in-person viewing until Dec. 22, 2021, in the Drew University Methodist Archives. The archives are open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Drew is at 36 Madison Ave., Madison. More details about the exhibit are here.
