One of our grandsons gave me a book last week about the great 1918 flu pandemic. WOW, but it is full of info that is new to me.  Apparently many physicians recognized the danger of pandemic flu years before it got here, and there is considerable space devoted to the US Army preparations and non-preparations. And that brings me back to VA-HIST.

My father served in Base Hospital 45 in France during WW I.  We have his diary of the first month or so there in 1918.  He said he got a case of the flu in the pandemic, and I assume it was while he was with BH 45.  So in an effort to learn more about BH 45, I find that there IS a book of its history by a Geisinger, and that copies reside in the Library of Virginia and the University of Virginia.
And along the way, I found a photo of the people in BH45 in France, and what a pleasant surprise -- there was my father in the back row!!!!!  I could not believe it!!!!!

But Bummer Again..... I reside out in the boonies two hours from each of those storehouses of knowledge, and of course it would require me several days to sit there and read it, even if the authorities let such rare books into the hands of us mere mortals.

I cannot find the book on AMAZON or EBay.

Therefore at the micro level (i.e. this book), is there any way for me to get access to a copy to read or own?

On a macro level -- sharing (Virginia History) information with folks across the Commonwealth, is there anything underway?  I know that The University of Virgina, and perhaps Virginia institutions, are in the midst of a "Where do we want to be in XX years."  The UVa draft does not mention any such effort.

Randy Cabell